Thursday, February 6, 2014

Eugene Onegin, Chapters 5-8

I've been awol the last few weeks, for a lot of little non-serious reasons, and I'm here to catch up.  So glad I haven't missed the entire second half of the readalong. 

This final half of the poem begins with a shocking event:  Eugene, in a fit of irritation with Lensky, dances and flirts with Olga (Lensky's fiancee).  Neither Eugene nor Olga sees this as anything serious, but Lensky does.  Quite uncharacteristically, it seems to me, he challenges Onegin to a duel.  Eugene haughtily agrees, and Lensky is killed.  Stricken with remorse, Eugene leaves his estate and spends several years traveling.  Shallow Olga recovers quickly from her loss and marries a soldier. Lensky is forgotten and his grave neglected. Tatiana, feeling that life no longer holds any joy for her, agrees to marry an elderly general, and enters St. Petersburg's social elite.  On his return to society, Eugene sees her at a ball, is struck by her grave beauty, and (at last) falls in love with her.  He writes her a letter that is a wonderful counterpart to the one she originally wrote him, in which he recognizes that he turned her away in the past only because of "my tedious taste for feeling free."  Though she still loves Eugene, Tatiana refuses to betray her husband, and Eugene is left standing thunderstruck.

Question from Marion, our readalong host:  Chapter 6 finds us in the middle of sudden disputes and high drama.  What might be the characters' motivations for such extreme actions?  Is it substance, or superficiality?  Is anybody right or wrong - and if so, who?

I want to respond to this because it's what struck me also--what on earth got into Lensky and Onegin?  I just cannot see sweet-natured, easygoing Lensky even noticing Onegin's flirtation with Olga, much less assuming on no evidence at all that a seduction was attempted, much less demanding a duel!  Likewise with Onegin--he's just too bored and can't-be-bothered-about-it-all to agree to anything as real and dangerous as a duel.  Not to mention his genuine love for his friend, the only sincere emotion he appeared to have up until that point.  I would expect him to laugh at Lensky's challenge, and tell him not to be ridiculous.  Honestly, I can't account for this part of the plot.

6 comments:

  1. I can understand Lensky's reaction ……. the passionate, emotional poet ….. but I didn't really understand Onegin's. But yet, neither really wanted to duel, so it was simply stubbornness and pride that made them go ahead with the challenge.

    BTW, I homeschool too! And my daughter took up to German II through OSU, so she is able to read it a little. I only had it for a semester in high school but I could probably read some picture books. I have always had plans to continue on with it but life (and other languages) got in the way. I'm off to take a peek at your German list!

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    1. Yes, stubbornness and pride, especially on Onegin's part, but still... it doesn't seem an adequate motive for killing. Then again, duelling was taken very seriously in that society I suppose, whereas it just seems stupid to us.

      You aren't by any chance on the Well-Trained Mind forums? I'm Amy in TX there. (Sorry for the late reply to your comment! I am extra busy this year, applying to grad school and helping with a local SAT prep class.)

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    2. I enjoyed reading your thoughts! Like you say, it must be our modern perspective that makes the duel seem so random. Pushkin fought more than one himself, so he must have been writing from experience. Very saddening that duelling motives could be so trivial.

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    3. I'm Cleopatra on the WTM. I'm only on the forums occasionally as my daughter is older now and we pretty much have our curriculum set. She's only in grade 9 though so I don't have to think of SATs or equivalents (we're in Canada) yet! :-)

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  2. Thinking of you often....hope you enjoy sharing your knowledge while helping students prep for those important tests! Soon you´ll be able to enjoy `life in the slipstream` and have time for your reading!

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    1. Thinking of you too... In addition to the busyness, my migraines have gotten out of control over the last couple of months and I've not been blogging or visiting blogs much at all. Doing much better now, though, thank God. I'm going to try to get a post up this weekend and take a look at my favorite book blogs again. :)

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