THE POET IS KILLED - A SLAVE OF HONOR!!

Boris Kustodiev Pushkin on the Neva embankment 1915

Today I want to remember one of the most famous literary duels. In ratings, social In polls, I am sure she should take first place in popularity. But first, let's remember the names of the duelists.

EUGENE ONEGIN

A. Samokhvalov Onegin at the ball

He is the main character of the novel - a young landowner. Onegin is the son of a rich master, “heir to all his relatives.” He did not need to work for a piece of bread, “he was sick of persistent work.” The upbringing Evgeniy received was the worst. He grew up without a mother. The father, a frivolous gentleman and official, did not pay any attention to his son, entrusting him to hired tutors and governesses. They taught the boy almost nothing, did not educate him in any way, and only slightly scolded him for his pranks.
In St. Petersburg, Onegin leads an empty, aimless and meaningless life. Meeting with friends in a restaurant, visiting the theater, balls, courting women.
Tired of being bored in St. Petersburg, Onegin goes to the village to be bored. And here his life is not distinguished by a wealth of events: swimming in the river, horseback riding and walking, reading magazines, kissing serf girls.

VLADIMIR LENSKY

A. Samokhvalov Lensky before the duel

Onegin's "half-Russian neighbor", a "fan of Kant and a poet" does not have a clear idea of ​​​​real life. Lensky is young. He is 18 years old in the novel. He is 8 years younger than Onegin. Nevertheless, Lensky received higher education at the best university in Germany. Lensky is partly a young Onegin, not yet matured, not having had time to experience pleasure and not having experienced deceit, but having already heard about the world and read about it.
Lensky is a friend worthy of Onegin. He, like Onegin, was one of the best people of Russia at that time. A poet, an enthusiast, he is full of childlike faith in people, romantic friendship to the grave and in eternal love. Lensky is noble, educated, his feelings and thoughts are pure, his enthusiasm is sincere. He loves life.
And it is precisely such a positive character that the author “kills” in a duel.

The story of the duel itself seems to be banal and simple. Lensky is in love with Tatyana Larina’s sister, Olga. Olga's romance with Lensky develops rapidly. They walk, read, play chess. Lensky thinks about his beloved all the time.
Lensky invites Onegin to Tatyana's name day. Onegin agrees to go.
Onegin deliberately courtes and dances only with Olga, she promised him all the dances. Lensky is jealous and leaves with the thought of a duel. Noticing Vladimir's absence, Onegin became sad, and so did Olga. Lensky chooses his second:
Zaretsky, once a brawler,
Ataman of the gambling gang,
The head of the rake, the tavern tribune,...
Zaretsky brings Lensky's challenge to Onegin. Having received a challenge to a duel, well aware of his wrongness and the meaninglessness of this fight, Onegin nevertheless accepts the challenge and kills his young friend Vladimir Lensky.
The murder of Lensky turned Onegin's whole life upside down. He is no longer able to remain living in those places where everything reminded him of his terrible crime, “Where the bloody shadow appeared to him every day.”

Well, now read the stanzas of the novel and look at the artists’ illustrations for this chapter.

CHAPTER SIX

F. Konstantinov Onegin and Lensky
.......

IX
He was pleasant, noble,
Short call, il cartel:
Courteously, with cold clarity
Lensky invited his friend to a duel.
Onegin from the first movement,
To the ambassador of such an order
Turning around, without further ado
Said he's always ready.
Zaretsky stood up without explanation;
I didn’t want to stay any longer
Having a lot to do at home,
And immediately he went out; but Evgeniy
Alone with your soul
He was unhappy with himself.

X
And rightly so: in strict analysis,
Having summoned himself to a secret trial,
He blamed himself for many things:
First of all, he was wrong
What is above timid, tender love?
So the evening joked casually.
And secondly: let the poet
Fooling around; at eighteen
It's forgivable. Eugene,
Loving the young man with all my heart,
Had to prove myself
Not a ball of prejudice,
Not an ardent boy, a fighter,
But a husband with honor and intelligence.

XI
He could discover feelings
And don’t bristle like an animal;
He had to disarm
Young heart. "But now
It's too late; time has flown...
Besides - he thinks - in this matter
The old duelist intervened;
He is angry, he is a gossip, he is loud...
Of course there must be contempt
At the cost of his funny words,
But the whispers, the laughter of fools..."
And here is public opinion! 38
Spring of honor, our idol!
And this is what the world revolves on!

XII
Seething with impatient enmity,
The poet is waiting for an answer at home;
And here's a tall neighbor
He solemnly brought the answer.
Now it’s a holiday for the jealous person!
He was still afraid that the prankster
Didn't laugh it off somehow
Having invented a trick and breasts
Turning away from the gun.
Now the doubts are resolved:
They must go to the mill
Arrive tomorrow before dawn
Cock the trigger on each other
And aim at the thigh or temple.
.........

XIX
Lensky was distracted all evening,
Sometimes silent, sometimes cheerful again;
But the one who is nurtured by the muse,
Always like this: frowning brow,
He sat down at the clavichord
And he played only chords on them,
Then, turning his gaze to Olga,
Whispered: isn't it? I'm happy.
But it's too late; time to go. Shrunk
He has a heart full of longing;
Saying goodbye to the young maiden,
It seemed to be torn apart.
She looks him in the face.
"What's wrong with you?" - Yes. - And to the porch.

XX
Arriving home, pistols
He examined it, then put it in
Again they are in the box and, undressed,
By candlelight, Schiller opened it;
But one thought surrounds him;
A sad heart does not sleep in him:
With inexplicable beauty
He sees Olga in front of him.
Vladimir closes the book,
Takes a pen; his poems,
Full of love nonsense
They sound and flow. Reads them
He speaks out loud, in lyrical heat,
Like Delvig drunk at a feast.

A. Kostin Lensky before the duel
..........

XXIII
So he wrote darkly and languidly
(What we call romanticism,
Although there is no romanticism here
I don't see; what's in it for us?)
And finally, before dawn,
Bowing my weary head,
On the buzzword, ideal
Lensky quietly dozed off;
But only with sleepy charm
He forgot, he's already a neighbor
The office enters silently
And he wakes up Lensky with a call:
“It’s time to get up: it’s past seven.
Onegin is probably waiting for us.”

XXIV
But he was wrong: Evgeniy
At this time I was sleeping like a dead sleep.
The nights and shadows are already thinning
And Vesper was greeted by a rooster;
Onegin is sleeping deeply.
The sun is already rolling high,
And a migratory snowstorm
Shines and curls; but the bed
Evgeniy hasn’t left yet,
A dream is still flying over him.
He finally woke up
And the curtain parted the floors;
He looks and sees that it’s time
It's a long time to leave the yard.

XXV
He calls quickly. Runs in
His servant, the Frenchman Guillot, comes to him,
Offers robe and shoes
And hands him the laundry.
Onegin hurries to get dressed,
The servant tells him to get ready
Go with him and with you
Take also a combat box.
The running sled is ready.
He sat down and flies to the mill.
We rushed over. He tells the servant
Lepage 39 fatal trunks
Carry after him, and the horses
Drive into the field to two oak trees.

XXVI
Leaning on the dam, Lensky
I've been waiting impatiently for a long time;
Meanwhile, the village mechanic,
Zaretsky condemned the millstone.
Onegin comes with an apology.
“But where is it,” he said in amazement
Zaretsky, where is your second?”
In duels, the classic and the pedant,
He loved the method out of feeling,
And stretch the man
He allowed - not somehow,
But in the strict rules of art,
According to all ancient legends
(What we should praise about him).

XXVII
“My second? - said Evgeniy, -
Here it is: my friend, Monsieur Guillot
I don't foresee any objections
For my presentation:
Even though he is an unknown person,
But of course the guy is honest.”
Zaretsky bit his lip.
Onegin asked Lensky:
“Well, should we start?” - Let's start, perhaps.
Vladimir said. And let's go
For the mill. While away
Zaretsky is our honest fellow
We entered into an important agreement
The enemies stand with their eyes downcast.

A. Samokhvalov Seconds before the duel

XXVIII
Enemies! How long have we been apart?
Has their bloodlust gone?
How long have they been leisure hours,
Meal, thoughts and deeds
Did you share together? Now it's evil
Like hereditary enemies,
Like in a terrible, incomprehensible dream,
They are in silence to each other
They are preparing death in cold blood...
Shouldn't they laugh while
Their hand is not stained,
Shouldn't we part ways amicably?..
But wildly secular enmity
Afraid of false shame.

XXIX
Now the pistols are flashing,
The hammer rattles on the ramrod.
Bullets go into the faceted barrel,
And the trigger clicked for the first time.
Here is gunpowder in a grayish stream
It spills onto the shelf. jagged,
Securely screwed flint
Still cocked. For the nearby stump
Guillot becomes embarrassed.
Cloaks are thrown by two enemies.
Zaretsky thirty-two steps
Measured with excellent accuracy,
He took his friends to the extreme,
And everyone took their pistol.

F. Konstantinov Duel of Onegin and Lensky

“Now get together.”
In cold blood,
Not yet aiming, two enemies
With a firm gait, quietly, evenly
Walked four steps
Four mortal stages.
His pistol then Evgeniy,
Without ceasing to advance,
He was the first to quietly raise it.
Here are five more steps taken,
And Lensky, squinting his left eye,
I also began to aim - but just
Onegin fired... They struck
Time clock: poet
Silently drops the pistol,

Ilya Repin Duel of Onegin with Lensky 1899

Quietly puts his hand on his chest
And falls. Misty Eyes
Depicts death, not agony.
So slowly along the slope of the mountains,
Sparkling in the sun,
A block of snow falls.
Doused with instant cold,
Onegin hurries to the young man,
He looks and calls him... in vain:
He's no longer there. Young singer
Found an untimely end!
The storm has blown, the color is beautiful
Withered at dawn,
The fire on the altar has gone out!..

XXXII
He lay motionless and strange
There was a languid world on his brow.
He was wounded right through the chest;
Smoking, blood flowed from the wound.
One moment ago
Inspiration beat in this heart,
Enmity, hope and love,
Life was playing, blood was boiling:
Now, as if in an empty house,
Everything in it is quiet and dark;
It fell silent forever.
The shutters are closed, the windows are chalked
Whitewashed. There is no owner.
And where, God knows. There was no trace.

XXXIII
Nicely cheeky epigram
Enrage a mistaken enemy;
It's nice to see how stubborn he is
Bowing my eager horns,
Involuntarily looks in the mirror
And he is ashamed to recognize himself;
It’s more pleasant if he, friends,
Howls foolishly: it’s me!
It's even more pleasant in silence
Prepare an honest coffin for him
And quietly aim at the pale forehead
At a noble distance;
But send him to his fathers
It will hardly be pleasant for you.

XXXIV
Well, if with your gun
Young friend is smitten,
An immodest look, or an answer,
Or some other trifle
The one who insulted you behind a bottle,
Or even himself in ardent annoyance
Proudly challenging you to battle,
Say: with your soul
What feeling will take over
When motionless, on the ground
Before you with death on his brow,
He gradually ossifies,
When he is deaf and silent
To your desperate call?

E. Samokish-Sudkovskaya Death of Lensky 1900s

In the anguish of heart remorse,
Hand clutching the pistol,
Evgeniy looks at Lensky.
"Well? killed,” the neighbor decided.
Killed!.. With this terrible exclamation
Smitten, Onegin with a shudder
He leaves and calls people.
Zaretsky carefully puts
There is a frozen corpse on the sleigh;
He is carrying a terrible treasure home.
Smelling the dead, they snore
And the horses fight with white foam
The steel bits are wet,
And they flew like an arrow.

The text of the novel in verse by A.S. Pushkin “Eugene Onegin” was used
materials from the site “Eugene Onegin”

Pushkin's times were the times of duels, when it was customary to wash away any insult with blood.

A passionate duelist himself, Alexander Sergeevich could not help but include an episode of the duel in his famous novel “Eugene Onegin,” so we will now briefly examine the duel of Onegin and Lensky. The duel ends with the death of one of the heroes, the sweet and romantic poet Vladimir Lensky, although initially nothing foreshadowed such a sad outcome. So, about why Lensky challenged Onegin to a duel.

Why did the duel happen?

Onegin and Lensky came together to Tatyana Larina's name day, where Evgeny became bored and wanted to anger his friend, whom he considered to be to blame for his condition. He began intensively inviting Vladimir’s fiancée, the frivolous and flirtatious Olga Larina, to the dance, whispering all sorts of pleasantries in her ear and completely captured her attention. The poet, in love with Olga, was jealous and did not understand what was happening, because they were getting ready for the wedding. Tatyana Larina, who was in love with Onegin, also suffered.

Onegin dispelled boredom, but received a challenge to a duel from the offended Lensky. The challenge note was brought by Zaretsky, who was well versed in all the intricacies of dueling, and Onegin had no choice but to say that he was ready. Although Evgeniy repented of his behavior and would have been glad to avoid a duel, Vladimir resolutely wanted to shoot himself. Even despite the fact that the day after his name day he came to his beloved Olga and was convinced that she still loved him. This is what caused the duel between Onegin and Lensky.

There was still hope for a successful outcome of the fight: they could shoot in the air or in the leg. But Onegin, for unknown reasons, shot eighteen-year-old Vladimir directly in the chest and then looked in numbness at his dying friend. The old mill was a silent witness to the deadly confrontation.

In order to forget about this tragic incident and be as far as possible from the ill-fated place, Eugene Onegin left for Europe for a long time after the duel. Read also

Onegin and Lensky became friends only because in their environment there were no more people of the appropriate age, education, and position. “Friends with nothing to do” met almost every day and spent time together. They needed each other: Lensky needed Onegin as a listener, a connoisseur of his poetry, as an interesting interlocutor with his own original point of view, as a mysterious and romantic image, which he would certainly have embodied in his future poem, if he had time... Why Onegin needed Lensky is more difficult to answer. Perhaps he, disappointed in life, was interested in watching how an enthusiastic and ardent poet would lose faith in his ideals, what this romantic, constantly in the clouds, would be like when he met the first blows of fate. But time passed and everything remained the same: Lensky, in love, spoke enthusiastic nonsense, and Onegin became angry and irritated more and more. The reason for his bad mood was his recent conversation with Tatyana and also the fact that Lensky, not feeling or seeing anything but his happiness, does not even try to understand his friend’s mood and persistently persuades him to attend the Larins’ party. The desire to teach the young egoist a lesson becomes stronger due to the feeling of the absurdity of the situation: he refused Tatyana and suddenly showed up to her on her name day, as if he had come to his senses, as if he was allowing the unfortunate girl to relive her vain hopes. Courting Olga is also a desire to take revenge on Lensky, returning him from heaven to earth, and a desire to escape forever from new explanations with Tatyana. Did Onegin imagine that Lensky would challenge him to a duel? Of course yes. How could the groom have acted differently at a time when a friend compromised his bride Olga in front of the entire Larin family and invited guests. The fact that the duel took place was largely due to the dependence of both friends on the “opinions of the world.” None of them wanted to “discover feelings, and not bristle like an animal,” simply fearing that these feelings would be regarded as cowardice. Onegin, who knows how to shoot perfectly, shot at the inexperienced duelist Lensky first. How many generations of readers have been breaking spears in disputes about why he did not shoot in the air - the noble Lensky in this case would have had no choice but to do the same. Maybe this is a subconscious desire to survive in order to experience a real feeling? Or maybe a conscious desire to be a fatal “demonic” hero in the eyes of others? Did the poet want to punish his hero with the eternal torments of remorse or reward him with the newfound ability to suffer and love that redeems him? It's difficult to answer. The genius of the work is that it makes you think, worry, and everyone searches for their own answers to many controversial questions.

In A. S. Pushkin's novel "Eugene Onegin" one of the saddest scenes is the duel between Lensky and Onegin. But why did the author decide to bring them together in a duel? What motivated the young people? Could this situation have been avoided? Below we will present an analysis of the episode of the duel between Lensky and Onegin.

Before moving on to the discussion, let's compose the duels of Onegin and Lensky. This is necessary so that the review of the scene proceeds sequentially, and the reader can understand why this episode was introduced into the novel.

Reasons for the fight

Why did Lensky challenge his friend to a duel? Readers remember that Vladimir was a man of a soft, romantic disposition, unlike Evgeniy - a world-weary, always bored, cynical person. The reason for the duel is banal - jealousy. But who was jealous and why?

Lensky brought Onegin to Larina. If Vladimir had his own interest (he was the groom of the birthday girl’s sister, Olga), then Evgeniy was bored. Added to this is the attention of Tatyana, who is in love with him. All this only irritates the young man, and he chose Lensky as the reason for his bad mood.

Onegin decides to take revenge on his friend for ruining the evening and begins to court his fiancee. Olga was a frivolous girl, so she happily accepted Evgeniy’s advances. Lensky does not understand what is happening, and, deciding to put an end to it, invites her to dance. But Olga ignores his invitation and continues to waltz with Onegin. Humiliated, Lensky leaves the celebration and challenges his only friend to a duel.

Brief description of the duel between Onegin and Lensky

Evgeniy receives a call through Zaretsky, an acquaintance of Lensky. Onegin understands that he was to blame, that such stupidity is not worth having his best friends shoot over it. He repents and realizes that the meeting could have been avoided, but proud young people do not refuse the fateful meeting...

When analyzing the episode of the duel between Lensky and Onegin, it is necessary to note Eugene’s attempts to provoke Vladimir’s refusal to duel: he is an hour late, appoints a servant as his second. But Lensky prefers not to notice this and waits for his friend.

Zaretsky counts down the required number of steps, the young people are preparing to shoot. While Lensky takes aim, Onegin shoots first. Vladimir dies instantly, Evgeniy, shocked by this, leaves. Zaretsky, having taken Lensky's body, goes to the Larins.

Could there have been a different outcome of the fight?

Analyzing the episode of the duel between Lensky and Onegin, it should be noted what role Zaretsky played in this story. If you read the novel carefully, you can find lines that hint that it was he who persuaded Lensky to challenge Onegin to shoot himself.

It was also within Zaretsky’s power to prevent the fight. After all, Evgeniy realized his guilt and no longer wanted to participate in this farce. And according to the rules, Levin’s second should have tried to reconcile the rivals, but this was not done. Zaretsky could cancel the duel simply because Onegin was late for it, and his second was a servant, although according to the rules of the duel, only people of equal social status could be seconds. Zaretsky was the only commander of the duel, but he did nothing to prevent the fatal duel.

Result of the duel

What happened to Onegin after the duel? Nothing, he just left the village. In those days, duels were prohibited, so it is obvious that the cause of Lensky’s death was presented to the police in a completely different way. A simple monument was erected to Vladimir Lensky, his bride Olga soon forgot about him and married someone else.

How is the main character revealed in this scene?

When schoolchildren write an essay analyzing the episode of the duel between Onegin and Lensky, they pay great attention to the side from which Eugene is revealed. It seems that he does not depend on the opinions of society and is tired of the circle of aristocrats with whom he carouses and has fun. But is it because he does not refuse a duel that he is actually afraid of what society will say about him? What if he is considered a coward who did not defend his honor?

Analysis of the episode of the duel between Lensky and Onegin presents a slightly different image before the reader’s eyes: Eugene is a weak-willed person who is guided not by his own judgments, but by the opinion of the world. To please his egoism, he decided to take revenge on Vladimir, without thinking about what would hurt his feelings. Yes, he tried to avoid the fight, but still he did not apologize and did not explain anything to his friend.

At the end of the analysis of the episode of the duel between Lensky and Onegin, one should write about the significance of the scene for the novel. It is in this fight that Eugene’s true character is revealed. Here his spiritual weakness and duality of nature are manifested. Zaretsky can be compared to secular society, whose condemnation the hero is so afraid of.

Lensky's death suggests that people of fine spiritual organization cannot survive in deceit. They are too sublime, sensitive and sincere. It is worth noting that Eugene Onegin is a collective character who has absorbed the typical features of secular society.

But as readers know, the author did not spare Onegin, and in literature he is considered a cynical hero with a hard heart. He rejected Tatyana's love, destroyed his friend, and played with human feelings. And when I repented and realized that I was doing wrong, it was already too late. Onegin never found his happiness, his destiny is loneliness among people who are not interesting to him...

This was a brief analysis of the episode of the duel between Onegin and Lensky, which reveals the essence of this scene in the work.

The duel between and became a key moment in the fate of the main characters of the work. Once upon a time, former friends, having passed the test of many life tests that Pushkin prepared for them, failed the test of murder. The reason for this was Onegin’s “Russian blues”.

What caused this outcome of events? Why did Lensky decide to challenge Onegin to a duel? It all happened on his birthday, when Onegin neglected Vladimir’s bright feelings for Tatyana’s sister Olga. For fun, he had a nice conversation with the girl all evening, dancing and having fun with her. At one point, when Lensky wanted to invite his beloved to dance, Olga replied that she would dance the next dance with Onegin. This caused unreasonable jealousy towards Vladimir. He considered himself offended and humiliated. And in order to defend his honor, he decides to challenge Evgeniy to a duel.

Most likely, Zaretsky pushed him to take this step. Pushkin said about Zaretsky that he was a master of “putting young friends at odds / And putting them on the barrier.”

Having learned about the challenge to a duel, Onegin realizes that he was wrong, that he acted stupidly. Evgeniy attributes this impulse of Lensky to his youth and lack of experience. But despite this, he accepts the challenge. The question arises, why does Onegin, having admitted his mistake, agree to a duel? The answer lies in the character of Onegin. He, being a public person, was very dependent on public opinion; Onegin was afraid to seem like a coward. That's the only reason he decides to take part in this stupidity.

In my opinion, the duel between Onegin and Lensky cannot be called anything other than stupidity. At that time there were many ways to avoid bloodshed. But here Zaretsky played his role. He was the bearer of public opinion, and society demanded blood. Pushkin shows us that Onegin grossly violated the rules of the duel. So, Eugene took Guillo, who was a simple servant, as his second. According to the rules of the duel, the second had to have the same social status as the duelist. But Zaretsky does not pay attention to this. In addition, Zaretsky was obliged to offer reconciliation to the duelists, but again ignored this rule.

Now it becomes clear who allowed this bloodshed. Unfortunately, Onegin, being dependent on the foundations of secular society, was unable to make a choice on his own. The outcome was predetermined. Pushkin shows us all the weakness and dependence of Evgeniy’s nature. All his attempts to change his life and become independent were in vain.

Onegin kills Lensky.

Pushkin showed us how Onegin became a hostage of public opinion. He condemns his hero, showing us his deceit. Ultimately, life punished Evgeniy. He will be remembered by the reader as an “extra person” with a heart of stone and a hardened soul.