Onegin and the capital's noble society message. How are the metropolitan and local nobility similar and different in the novel “Eugene Onegin”? Provincial landed nobility

In this novel, the author openly and without embellishment shows both sides of the nobility. All of the old school representatives of high society, self-possessed, noble, have a sharp, inquisitive mind. For them there are no bright emotions and vulgarity; if the aristocrat feels contempt or surprise, he does not show it; conversations are conducted on highly spiritual topics.

The landed nobility is a part of people who belong to a noble family, but do not have proper education, their manners do not radiate sophistication. All actions are hypocritical, aimed at satisfying one’s base needs. Such cream of society often receive training at home.

Accordingly, all sciences have been studied superficially, the necessary knowledge has not been obtained, and therefore the conversations of such nobles are empty, cutesy with excessive arrogance, which they justify by their attitude towards the nobility.

In this work, the local nobility is expressed in the Larin family and their neighbors; Onegin did not go to visit them so as not to constantly hear stories about peasants, about how to pickle mushrooms or feed pigs properly.

Tatyana's mother was from a noble family, when she got married and came to live in the village, at first she resisted circumstances for a long time, wore beautiful clothes, and spoke French. But soon this life broke her, she got used to the society of peasants and began to manage the farm.

An example of the fact that Tatyana also became close to the peasants, she can wash herself with snow, is friends with her nanny, the way of life brings its own adjustments even to the most refined and highly spiritual natures. Onegin, in order to go out for lunch, changes his clothes and puts himself in order, while the Larins can sit at the table in robes, a cap and casual clothes.

Many of the habits of the local nobility are relics of the past, but on the other hand, they are the preservation of the traditions of our ancestors. Onegin himself is a representative of the capital's aristocracy, educated, cultured, but spends all his time at restaurant balls. He spends a lot of time in his office, where he takes care of himself, and then reads books. That’s why this monotony made him depressed, he was tired of everything.

He himself is very smart, his mind is comprehensively developed, his views on life are progressive, he understands and perceives everything beautiful in this world. And the rest of the circle of aristocrats is empty, hypocritical, selfish. Their apparent busyness and activity actually produces nothing and brings no benefit. Just an endless waste of time, huge sums of money on balls and entertainment.

Onegin does not find a place for himself in the capital's aristocratic circles; he is bored and uninterested there. At the same time, Tatiana is on her estate, surrounded by either peasants or those who gathered to have dinner with their neighbors on the next day and talk about how the day went.

To get away from this unsatisfying society, Onegin came to the village, Tatyana began to read novels. Tatyana is spiritually developed, she loves nature, she is a well-mannered, intelligent and subtle person. Soon this heroine will become a real society lady with the necessary level of education. At the same time, she is simple and sincere; the author gave these best traits of the Russian character to our heroine.

It’s just that the nobles living in the outback are ill-mannered, have the habits of peasants, but have retained the customs of their ancestors. As a result, in each of these societies there is something positive and negative; these are two inseparable parts of society.

Essay Capital and local nobility

One of the main plot lines of the novel is the description of the Russian nobility. The work “Eugene Onegin” describes in detail the life and customs of society. When you read, you feel like you are back in that time. A.S. Pushkin described secular and rural life from his own experience. The author’s attitude towards different strata of society is ambiguous; he ridicules secular society, and writes with sympathy about the local nobility

The capital's nobility is expressed in Onegin's daily routine - the morning begins in the afternoon, a short walk to the restaurant, after lunch a trip to the theater, and at night the main celebration is a ball. And in the morning, when working Petersburg wakes up, the nobles are leaving the ball. The metropolitan nobility can be described as fussy, idle, and their main feature is boredom. In their life there are only balls, gossip, everyone is afraid of the opinions of others. They are all chasing fashion, so that the outfit is better than the other. People from high society are selfish and indifferent, they are artificial, everyone smiles sweetly in public, but gossips evilly behind their backs. Knowledge and feelings are superficial; in such a society someone like Tatyana Larina could never grow up. In this society, life is filled with constant balls, card games, and intrigue. Years go by, people grow old, but their lives do not change

The provincial nobility is a tribute to antiquity; patriarchy and family values ​​rule here. In the village, life is slow, everything goes on as usual, nothing changes significantly. People are ignorant and not very smart, the main topics of conversation are haymaking and kennels, if something extraordinary happens, it will be discussed for a very long time. The gossip here seems to be at home, since they are all like a big family and everyone knows everything about each other. There is not much entertainment in the village - hunting or visiting; the main celebration is considered to be a ball, at which ancient traditions are still preserved. Pushkin clearly depicts the characters of the landowners through surnames (Skotinins, Buyanov, Petushkov)

The provincial nobility is a caricature of the metropolitan nobility. To show your upbringing in high society, it was enough to know the French language perfectly, be able to dance and have the manners of a socialite. It is in metropolitan society that people become hypocrites and hide their feelings. Pushkin, describing different layers of society, gives his preference to landowners living in the village, who still preserved folk traditions and life principles.

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The capital and local nobility in A. S. Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin”

Many pages of the novel “Eugene Onegin” are devoted to the depiction of the capital and provincial nobility - their way of life, morals and tastes.

The poet was an opponent of home education. Superficial learning (“something and somehow”) becomes the beginning of a superficial attitude of young nobles towards art (Onegin yawns in the theater) and literature (“He could not distinguish an iambic from a trochee...”), the cause of “mourning laziness”, inability to work.

Describing the lifestyle of the capital’s “rake” (a morning walk on the boulevard, lunch in a fashionable restaurant, a visit to the theater and, finally, a trip to the ball), the author in his digressions gives an outline of social mores (“Freaks of the big world!”).

The author is contemptuous of the morals that reign among the “secular rabble”: the “cold-blooded debauchery” widespread in this environment, the attitude towards love as a “science”, the ostentatious virtue and “fashionable arrogance” of secular ladies:

They, with harsh behavior

Scaring timid love

They knew how to attract her again...

Among the “secular rabble” such lofty concepts as love and friendship are distorted and vulgarized. “Friends” from among the secular mob are hypocritical and sometimes dangerous.

Extraordinary, spiritually free, thinking natures do not fit well into the restrictive framework of secular false morality:

Ardent souls carelessness

Proud insignificance

Or it insults, or it makes you laugh...

The secular environment rejects independent minds and welcomes mediocrity. "Society" approves of those

Who hasn't indulged in strange dreams,

Who has not shunned the secular mob,

Who at twenty was a dandy or a smart guy,

L is advantageously married at thirty...

However, the capital's nobles also include representatives of the ancient nobility, among whom education and intelligence, nobility of manners, strict taste, rejection of the vulgar and vulgar are valued - in a word, everything that is usually associated with the concept of aristocracy. Having become a princess, Tatiana “firmly entered into her role” and became a true aristocrat. She learned to control herself, to restrain her feelings: “No matter how much she was / Surprised, amazed... She retained the same tone...” Narrating about the evenings in the house of Prince N. Pushkin recreates the special atmosphere of these social events, at which “the color of the capital” was present. The author admires the “harmonious order of oligarchic conversations”, describes the relaxed conversation of the guests, in which there is no “stupid affectation”, vulgar topics or “eternal truths”.

The capital's nobility is the environment in which Onegin moved for many years. Here his character was formed, from here he learned life habits that determined his fate for a long time.

The landed nobility is represented in the novel, primarily by the Larin family, as well as by Onegin’s neighbors (whom he avoided, fearing conversations “about haymaking, about wine, about the kennel, about his relatives”). Using the example of the Larin family, the author talks about the life of local nobles, their reading range, tastes and habits. Larina Sr. married against her will, at the insistence of her parents. At first she “torn and cried” when she found herself in the village; true to her girlish habits, she wore a narrow corset, wrote sensitive poetry, called her maids in the French way, but later she got used to her new life and settled into the role of a mistress. Like many provincial landowners, Larina “autocratically” ruled her husband and was actively involved in the household:

She went to work

Pickled mushrooms for the winter,

She managed expenses, shaved her foreheads...

The patriarchal way of life brings landowners closer to the common people. Tatyana washes herself with snow, like peasant girls. The closest person to her is her nanny, a simple peasant woman. Larina's spouses observe fasts and celebrate Maslenitsa; they love “round swings,” round dances and sub-dish songs. Their home is always open to guests. If Onegin, living in St. Petersburg, ate exclusively French or English cuisine, then the Larin family accepted traditional Russian food. Onegin spent several hours in front of the mirror. Larin “ate and drank in a dressing gown,” his wife wore a dressing gown and cap. Describing Larin’s death, the author writes, not without irony: “He died an hour before dinner...”, emphasizing a characteristic feature of local life: the time of all events (even death) is counted from the time of meal. “The habits of dear old times” were preserved in the Larin family even after the death of their father. Larina Sr. remained the same hospitable hostess.

However, life in the provinces also has its negative sides. First of all, it is isolation from the world, a cultural lag from the life of the capitals. On Tatiana’s name day the author brings the whole “color” of the provincial nobility - trifles, brawlers, cattle, cockerels... It is no coincidence that Pushkin uses “defining” surnames here, which are reminiscent of the extinct literary tradition of the 18th century: characters from the past century came to the “huge feast” .

Describing the noble class in his novel, Pushkin avoids unambiguous assessments. The provincial hinterland, like the capital's world, is permeated with contradictory influences of the past and present, reflecting the light and dark sides of life.

The novel “Eugene Onegin” occupies a central place in Pushkin’s work. Work on the novel lasted eight years, from 1823 to 1831, but the events occurring in the work are framed within a different historical framework - from 1819 to the Decembrist uprising. And it’s not for nothing that Belinsky called “Eugene Onegin” “an encyclopedia of Russian life.” Indeed, in his novel in verse, Pushkin was able to depict almost all aspects of Russian life in the 19th century, all layers of society.
One of the main places in the work is occupied by the description of the nobility. The first chapter is devoted to a description of Onegin's life in St. Petersburg. Here Pushkin shows his hero among the St. Petersburg nobility from which he came. Having absorbed all the norms of his environment, Onegin leads an idle life: he goes on carousing at night, goes to balls, takes walks along Nevsky Prospect, and visits theaters. But soon “feelings cooled down” in Onegin, “he was bored with the light and noise”, he was attacked by the blues - a disease of rich young people of that time and his circle, aimlessly wasting their lives. And Onegin decided to leave for the village.
Pushkin depicts the life of the nobility succinctly and completely with just a few strokes and characteristic details. Here, dandyism, the pursuit of inheritance, and carousing are quite acceptable. Thus, the life of the nobility is shown as idle, full of entertainment, far from folk simplicity and therefore empty. Onegin, on the one hand, is shown as a full-fledged representative of noble society, and on the other, as a man tired of his own environment. He realizes true values ​​only when he acquires simple but true human love, the roots of which are not secular, but natural, natural.
Representatives of the local nobility in the novel are Onegin's uncle and the Larin family. Onegin’s uncle led a life in the village typical of all local nobles: “for about forty years he quarreled with the housekeeper, looked out the window and crushed flies,” “kept a notebook of expenses, drank apple liqueurs and, except for the calendar, did not look at other books.” For Onegin, brought up on new teachings, on the books of Adam Smith, this way of life was unacceptable: he decided to establish a “new order” in his household - he “replaced corvée with quitrent,” which aroused the discontent of his neighbors, who decided that he was “a most dangerous eccentric.” " Here Pushkin draws a parallel between Griboyedov’s Chatsky and Onegin. Just as Moscow society declared Chatsky crazy, the opinion of the local nobility about Onegin was the same: “our neighbor is ignorant, crazy.”
Pushkin especially colorfully describes the life and character of the local nobility using the example of the Larin family and their guests at Tatyana’s name day. The life of the Larins is attractive to the author for its simplicity:
They kept life peaceful
Habits of a dear old man.
In relation to other noble families, there is obvious irony and even some disdain:
Barking mosek, smacking girls,
Noise, laughter, crush at the threshold.
The names of the guests are not without irony: Pustyakov, Petushkov, Buyanov, Flyanov, Karlikova. Pushkin portrays the local nobility as unnatural, pretending to be secular, with pretentious manners.
Among the guests is Monsieur Triquet, a “true Frenchman” from Tambov, whose image echoes Griboyedov’s “Frenchman from Bordeaux.” The author is ironic about how, after Triquet’s “false singing,” “screams, splashes, and greetings” rained down on him. Thus, Pushkin once again emphasizes the moral emptiness, stupidity and hypocrisy of the guest landowners. Thus, depicting the habits and morals of the local nobility, Pushkin to some extent compares it with the St. Petersburg nobility.
The Moscow nobility is shown from a slightly different point of view. The poet emphasizes the conservatism of the lifestyle of the Moscow nobility: “But no change is visible in them...” - in many ways comparing it with Griboyedov’s Moscow. However, Pushkin’s Moscow is kinder, although just as soulless and pragmatic.
The action of the novel in verse "Eugene Onegin" ends in St. Petersburg. At the end of his work, Pushkin again depicts the St. Petersburg nobility, comparing it with the image of St. Petersburg given at the beginning of the novel. But it was not Petersburg itself that changed so much as Onegin’s attitude towards it. Now the main character of the novel looks at secular entertainment from the outside, now he already feels not so much fatigue as alienation to this society. Love for Tatyana helped him understand the emptiness of relationships between people in society, the falseness of the brilliance and splendor of balls. To focus the reader's attention on this, Pushkin describes the St. Petersburg nobility not with slight irony, as at the beginning of the novel, but harshly satirically.
Thus, in his novel in verse, Pushkin was able to show all aspects of noble life, the immoderation of its morals and the vulgarity of its foundations, be it the local nobility or the city. The work implicitly conveys the idea that it was the environment, the vicious surroundings that ruined Onegin and he saw his sight too late, for which he was punished, deprived of his personal happiness.

(376 words) Pushkin in his novel “Eugene Onegin” depicts the capital and local nobility, identifying similar and different features. In this analysis we really see the encyclopedia of Russian life that V. Belinsky wrote about.

Let's start with the capital's nobility. The author notes that life in St. Petersburg is “monotonous and colorful.” This is a late awakening, “notes” with invitations to a ball, party or children's party. The hero reluctantly chooses some kind of entertainment, then takes care of his appearance and goes to visit. This is exactly how almost the entire noble society of St. Petersburg spends its time. Here people are accustomed to external splendor, they care about being considered cultured and educated, so they devote a lot of time to talking about philosophy and literature, but in reality their culture is only superficial. For example, visiting the theater in St. Petersburg has been turned into a ritual. Onegin comes to the ballet, although he is not at all interested in what is happening on stage. As for spiritual life, Tatyana in the finale calls social life a masquerade. The nobility in the capital lives only with feigned feelings.

In Moscow, according to the author, there are fewer claims to high European culture. In chapter 7 he makes no mention of theater, literature, or philosophy. But here you can hear a lot of gossip. Everyone is discussing each other, but at the same time all conversations are conducted within the framework of accepted rules, so in a secular living room you will not hear a single living word. The author also notes that representatives of Moscow society do not change over time: “Lukerya Lvovna is whitewashing everything, Lyubov Petrovna is also lying.” Lack of change means that these people do not truly live, but only exist.

The local nobility is depicted in connection with the village life of Onegin and the life of the Larin family. Landowners, in the author's perception, are simple and kind people. They live in unity with nature. They are close to folk traditions and customs. For example, about the Larin family it is said: “They kept in life the peaceful habits of the dear old days.” The author writes about them with a warmer feeling than about the metropolitan nobles, since life in the village is more natural. They are easy to communicate and capable of making friends. However, Pushkin does not idealize them. First of all, the landowners are far from high culture. They practically don't read books. For example, Onegin’s uncle only read the calendar, Tatyana’s father did not like to read at all, however, he “saw no harm in books,” so he allowed his daughter to get carried away with them.

Thus, the landowners in Pushkin’s portrayal are good-natured, natural people, but not too developed, and the courtiers appear as false, hypocritical, idle, but slightly more educated nobles.

V. G. Belinsky called the novel “Eugene Onegin” “an encyclopedia of Russian life”, it “poetically reproduces the picture of Russian life”, Pushkin depicted the noble society of the 20s of the 19th century, and showed in detail both the life of the provincial nobility and metropolitan society .

The main motive accompanying the description of St. Petersburg society is vanity (“it’s no wonder to keep up everywhere”), tinsel. Using the example of Onegin's daily routine, the reader can judge the pastime of a socialite. For a socialite, the day began in the afternoon (“it used to be that he was still in bed: / They carried notes to him”) - this is a feature of aristocracy. A typical walking place for the nobility is Nevsky Prospekt, English Embankment, Admiralteysky Boulevard. As soon as the “waking Breguet” beats lunch, the dandy rushes to the most fashionable restaurant, Talon. The afternoon is theatre, and the highlight of the day is the ball. It was considered good form to arrive after midnight, and in the morning, when working Petersburg woke up, to go home to sleep.

When describing secular society, there is a motif of masquerade: the main feature of St. Petersburg life is boredom (in the theater Onegin yawns (“I saw everything: faces, clothes / He is terribly dissatisfied”). The author, describing the mores of society, uses irony, sometimes satire:

Here, however, was the color of the capital,

And know, and fashion samples,

Faces you meet everywhere

Necessary fools.

Fashion is of great importance in St. Petersburg: “Onegin is in the latest fashion, / Dressed like a London dandy”; Dandyism is fashionable as a way of life and, of course, melancholy as the Byronic mask of a socialite and, as a consequence, a special type of behavior (“But wildly secular hostility / Afraid of false shame”).

Life in Moscow is slow, static, unchanging. There are many reminiscences of “Woe from Wit” in the novel. The spirit of nepotism reigns here - this is the main motive in the depiction of Moscow society - patriarchy, everyone calls each other by name and patronymic: Pelageya Nikolaevna, Lukerya Lvovna, Lyubov Petrovna; hospitality:

To relatives who arrived from afar,

Everywhere there is an affectionate meeting,

And exclamations, and bread and salt.

Moscow gossip, unlike St. Petersburg, looks homely, like talking about each other in a large family, where we tell all the secrets:

Everything about them is so pale and indifferent;

They slander even boringly.

In depicting the life of the provincial nobility, Pushkin follows Fonvizin: he gives an idea of ​​the characters using the surnames of Fonvizin's heroes. Here reigns the “past century” and the past literary tradition with its “speaking” surnames:

...fat Pustyakov.

Gvozdin, an excellent owner,

Owner of poor men;

The Skotinins, the gray-haired couple,

With children of all ages.

From thirty to two years.

The main feature of the provincial nobility is patriarchy, loyalty to antiquity (“They kept in their peaceful life / The habits of dear old times”), in relationships at the table the features of Catherine’s era were preserved (“And at the table their guests / They carried dishes according to rank”). Village entertainment includes hunting, guests, and a special place is occupied by the ball, where ancient trends still dominate (“even the mazurka has preserved / The original beauty”). The villagers are one big family, they love to gossip about each other:

Everyone began to interpret furtively,

It is not without sin to joke and judge,

Tatiana intends to marry the groom...

The fate of provincial nobles is traditional (the fate of Tatyana's mother, the alleged fate of Lensky). The provincial nobility appears in the novel as a caricature of high society, but at the same time, it is in the province that Tatyana’s appearance is possible.