Pushkin's times - the times of duels, when it was customary to wash off any insult with blood.
A passionate duelist himself, Alexander Sergeevich could not but include the duel episode in his famous novel "Eugene Onegin", so we will now briefly analyze the duel between 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 for the name day of Tatyana Larina, where Eugene got bored and wanted to anger a friend whom he considered guilty of his condition. He began to intensively invite Vladimir's bride, the frivolous and coquettish Olga Larina, to dance, whisper all sorts of courtesies into 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 going to the wedding. Tatyana Larina, who was in love with Onegin, also suffered.
Boredom Onegin dispelled, but he received a challenge to a duel from the offended Lensky. Zaretsky, who was well versed in all the subtleties of dueling, brought a note with a challenge, and Onegin had no choice but to say that he was ready. Although Eugene 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 next day after the name day he came to his beloved Olga and made sure that she still loves him. This is what caused the duel between Onegin and Lensky.
There was still hope for a successful outcome of the duel: it was possible to shoot in the air or in the leg. But Onegin, for unknown reasons, shot eighteen-year-old Vladimir right in the chest and then stared in a daze 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 away from the ill-fated place as possible, after the duel, Eugene Onegin left for Europe for a long time. Read also
Contemporaries judged the details of the duel between Pushkin and Dantes (and we, the descendants, too) according to the recollections of the seconds - Danzas from Pushkin's side and d, Arshiak from Dantes' side. The general description of the duel converges, the discrepancies are only in the assessments of the behavior of the duelists. Of course, Danzas (Pushkin's fellow student at the Lyceum, friend) was "for" Pushkin, d, Arshiak (compatriot, relative) "for" Danzas, but both described the events as objectively as possible.
According to Danzas.
Despite the clear weather, a fairly strong wind was blowing. The frost was fifteen degrees.<…>
Pushkin was the first to approach the barrier and, stopping, began to aim his pistol. But at this time, Dantes, not reaching the barrier of one step, fired, Pushkin fell. The seconds rushed to him, Dantes intended to do the same, but Pushkin restrained him with the words: "Attendez! je me sens assez de force pour faire mon coup" (wait, I still have enough strength to make my shot).
Dantes stopped at the barrier and waited, covering his chest with his right hand. When Pushkin fell, his pistol fell into the snow, and therefore Danzas gave him another (D, Arshiak noticed that it was against the rules).
Rising slightly and leaning on his left hand, Pushkin fired. Dante fell. When asked by Pushkin where he was wounded, Dantes answered: "Je crois que j" ai la balle dans la poitrine " (I think I'm shot in the chest).
- Bravo! Pushkin shouted and threw the pistol aside. But Dantes was mistaken: he stood sideways, and the bullet, only concussing his chest, hit his arm.
According to d, Arshiak.
On the eve of the duel, the second was present at the conversation between Gekkern and Dantes. "Father and son" discussed the details of the duel. Dantes said: "If necessary, believe me, I will be able to act in such a way that Pushkin will not give even one shot! I will send him to the forefathers before he has time to think about it, and, in any case, before he pulls the trigger."
At the duel, "recognizing in Pushkin's face any peaceful outcome excluded, Georges decided to defend his right to life. The death sentence written on Pushkin's face called his opponent to the first and hasty shot. The poet, apparently, was waiting for d" Antes approached the barrier, meaning at that moment to discharge his weapon. This calculation had to be destroyed. The military upbringing and military service of d'Antes gave him an undoubted strategic advantage over the writer-brother. The success of the duel was ensured not only by the accuracy of the shot, as Pushkin probably believed, but also by the correct maneuvering after the signal, which the poet apparently did not think about. This ruined him.
Here you can compare the duels of Onegin + Lensky and Pushkin + Dantes. In general terms, the duels converge, because the rules for conducting duels were known to the highly experienced duelist Pushkin. In the novel "Eugene Onegin" Pushkin writes about the duel as follows:
Cloaks are thrown by two enemies.
Zaretsky thirty-two steps
Measured with excellent accuracy,
Friends spread on the last trace,
And each took his gun.
What will happen next is what will happen in the future real duel of Pushkin and Dantes. Dantes worked ahead of the curve, he did not reach one step to the barrier and fired while Pushkin was still aiming. The poet Pushkin fell, dropping his pistol.
Onegin also did not reach the barrier and fired first, while Lensky was still aiming. The poet Lensky fell and also dropped his pistol.
Dantes killed Pushkin. Onegin killed Lensky.
Four death steps.
Your gun then Eugene,
Never stop advancing
Became the first to quietly raise.
Here are five more steps
And Lensky, screwing up his left eye,
He also began to aim - but just
Onegin fired ... They struck
Fixed hours: poet
Silently drops the gun.
In the film-opera "Eugene Onegin" director and screenwriter Roman Tikhomirov perfectly created the duel scene! This picture was Tikhomirov's debut in film directing, and he carefully prepared for writing the script and for the work of the director: he studied "Eugene Onegin", the memoirs of Danzas and D, Arshiak, the libretto by Konstantin Shilovsky and imbued with Tchaikovsky's music.
Before him was a difficult task - the duel is the most important episode in the novel. Initial events lead to a duel, and subsequent actions also repel from it. How to show this important part on the screen?!
In the theater, attention is not focused on the duel itself; only Lensky's thoughts and feelings, victims in a love triangle, are shown on stage. Lensky sincerely sings "Where, where have you gone" and retires deep into the stage, where there is twilight and obscure figures ... a shot, tragic music, and - everyone understands that the duel took place, and Lensky was killed.
Act II, scene 5 "Duel of Onegin and Lensky". Onegin - P. Nortsov, Lensky - B. Bobkov, Second - F. Svetlanov.
Bolshoi Theatre, 1948–1952
In the film, you can’t get by with twilight, everything is in plain sight. The ingenious director Roman Tikhomirov shows real winter, frost, steam from the mouth... This is how it was written in the novel, this is how it will happen in 1837. Tikhomirov combines the text of the novel, the text of the libretto and the memoirs of the seconds into one whole, as a sculptor cuts off everything superfluous and removes the duel scene.
Zaretsky marks the barrier, claps his hands three times, the opponents converge ... the sun is shining, the snow is shining. From the side of Zaretsky, one can see how the duelists take uncertain steps on top of a snowy hill: first, second ... fifth ... While Lensky is preparing to shoot, Onegin shoots. The scenario follows the duel rules: ten steps between barriers. From each barrier, five steps into the field to advance opponents and to shoot on the go.
This is what Onegin did. This is what Dante did. Rivals with their noble souls were late, missing the moment. A tragedy happened.
Zaretsky takes off his cap and says: "Killed!" Onegin does not believe, he is in despair:
In anguish of heart remorse,
hand holding a pistol,
Yevgeny looks at Lensky.
"Well, what? Killed," the neighbor decided.
Onegin naturally worries, his eyes are full of tears ... All feelings are in plain sight, everything is shown in close-up! You will not see this in the theater even with binoculars - inner experiences are skillfully exposed to the outside without spectacular theatrical gestures and poses. This is only possible in movies. "Cinema is a great power!" The reader/spectator does not think, as in a book or in a theater, he sees! The expression of the eyes, facial expressions, tears, gestures, posture - everything works to reveal Onegin's state - to kill a person in a duel because of a trifling quarrel, this is an irreparable mistake, horror, nightmare, tragedy.
Onegin killed not just a man - a friend.
Dante is easier. Pushkin was for him only an adversary who had to be defeated. "D" Antes did not feel any regret or remorse at all. He believed that the inevitable had happened - in a mortal struggle he defended his life; everything else receded into the shadows."
Dantes killed not just a man - an enemy.
From d, Arshiak: "I returned to our sleigh. d" Antes stood in front of them, silent and pale, tightly clenching his teeth and motionlessly looking forward with his glass pupils, as if set in thin black rims.
He took the life of a man in whom a few minutes ago:
Enmity, hope and love,
Life played, blood boiled, -
Now, as in an empty house,
Everything in it is both quiet and dark;
It is silent forever.
Film-opera "Eugene Onegin, 1958. Directed by Roman Tikhomirov.
Onegin - Vadim Medvedev.
Lensky - Igor Ozerov.
Zaretsky - uncredited.
Completed by Sergey Kotosonov Grade 9
A duel is a pair fight taking place according to certain rules, with the aim of restoring honor, removing the shameful stain caused by an insult from an offended person. The duel took place according to strict unwritten rules. Protection of corporate protection of human honor and dignity The role of the duel is a socially significant IDEA OF THE DUEL
A collision or insult, as a result of which either side considered itself insulted and, as such, demanded satisfaction (satisfaction). Call. From that moment on, the opponents were not supposed to enter into any relationship: this was taken over by their seconds. Choice of seconds and discussion of the severity of the offense. Choosing the nature of the duel. The second sent a written challenge to the enemy - a cartel.
Participants: Onegin and Lensky. Reasons for the duel: Onegin's frivolous behavior in the Larins' house and courting Olga, Lensky's fiancee: "I swore Lensky to infuriate And take revenge in order." Seconds: Zaretsky - from Lensky's side, Guillot's lackey - from Onegin's side.
Lensky: Where, where have you gone, my golden days of spring? Zhukovsky: About my golden spring days ... Milonov: Like a light ghost, the Golden days of my spring have flown away. Kuchelbecker: So fly, golden dream, Fade away, my spring! The stamps of romanticism are parodied.
Onegin: afraid of unfavorable public opinion. Lensky: full of romantic impulse. Zaretsky (Lensky's second): -when transferring the cartel, he ignored his duty to persuade opponents to reconciliation; - did not meet with Onegin's second the day before to discuss the rules of the duel; - a footman became Onegin's second, although they both must have a noble rank; - did not cancel the duel, although Onegin was significantly late; - did not stipulate in the conditions of the duel the stop of the opponents after the first shot. Pushkin: could not "kill" Lensky. But this is his farewell to romanticism.
Konstantinov F.D. Illustration for the 6th chapter of "Eugene Onegin"
Accuracy, slowness, objectivity, detail of description. Replays. Transfers. Comparisons, anaphora. V. G. Belinsky: “The details of the duel between Onegin and Lensky are the pinnacle of artistic perfection.”
Conviction for fear of violating secular conventions. A tragic mistake: the concept of secular honor for the hero is more significant than moral duty. Retribution - pangs of conscience ("killer of a young poet", "killed by a friendly hand") Lovely-ironic. The tragedy of Lensky: he sacrifices his life for the right to play the role of a romantic hero. The victim is ridiculous, senseless, according to the author.
Which fate is more real? - doesn't matter. Important - there will be none! Mundane Or maybe that: the poet Ordinary was waiting for a lot ... Exalted Perhaps he was for the good of the world Or even for glory he was born ...
P. I. Tchaikovsky: “Isn’t the death of a richly gifted young man deeply dramatic and touching? Isn’t it a dramatic situation that a bored metropolitan lion, from petty irritation, against his will, due to a fatal combination of circumstances, takes the life of a young man whom, in essence, he loves!
Compositional: the culmination of the storyline Onegin - Lensky and its denouement. Pushkin's farewell to romanticism. A turn in the fate of Onegin (the beginning of a turning point in his mind). A new secondary character has been introduced - Zaretsky.
The novel "Eugene Onegin" was created two centuries ago. But even now it occupies a prominent place in Russian literature, standing out for its originality, relevance, and even the fact that it was written by Pushkin himself. This is a man who occupies an entire era and shines at the zenith of glory. He overshadows everyone around him and you can’t argue with that. "For two hundred years his works have been read and moved our hearts." Two hundred years… how many events happened during this time, but he was always loved and read. He was a star that will never go out; and which will illuminate our path, helping to understand what is good and what is bad in our life. This is the guiding star, thanks to which it is impossible to go astray. This cannot be done by reading his works, admiring Onegin and condemning Lensky, pitying Tatyana and criticizing Olga.
Reading it over and over again, you are amazed at the feelings that permeate it through and through. "Eugene Onegin" surprises us with its diversity and perfection. I think that now there is no person who would not know the heroes of this novel, or could not read at least a page from it.
Everyone knows both Onegin and Lensky. Their strange friendship still excites the heart. They are so different. Involuntarily I want to ask the question: what are they? Pushkin answers it himself and very accurately. Here is what he says about Onegin:
How early could he be hypocritical,
Hold hope, be jealous
disbelieve make believe
To seem gloomy, to languish.
In contrast to Onegin, the poet describes Lensky as follows:
From the cold debauchery of the world
Haven't faded yet
His soul was warmed
Hello friend, caress maidens;
He had a sweet heart, an ignoramus.
And it was an informal accident that brought these people together. Onegin came to the village because of an inheritance, and Lensky, tired of the bustle of the capital, wanted to retire. Pushkin contrasted these two images with each other. In the village they were even received differently. Onegin was called "the most dangerous eccentric," and Lensky was "asked to be a suitor." So they became friends:
Wave and stone
Poetry and prose, ice and fire
Not so different from each other.
First, mutual differences
They were boring to each other;
Then they liked it; Then
Riding every day
And soon they became inseparable.
So people (I repent first)
Nothing to do friends.
In that friendship, Lensky for Onegin is only a "temporary exception." He is looking for something new, not yet tired, and sees all this in the face of Lensky. It seems to me that Onegin treated him with condescension, as adults treat a small, stupid child. While Lensky was burning with the desire to do something extraordinary, Onegin served him as an "invigorating balm". This once again proves the frivolity and frivolity of Lensky. They think differently, feel differently, speak differently. Onegin is sober in his views, he judges the world like a complete cynic, protected by the impenetrable armor of egoism. According to Belinsky, he is a "suffering egoist." After all, how can a person be happy if he does not believe in love. He just plays with it. She is unknown to Onegin - an admirer of the "science of dumb passion", but if you listen carefully - passion does not know the rules, for Onegin, maybe later, realizing that he did not know love yet, he renounced it, he will really suffer. They have a tremendous sense of superiority. Then he will understand that this feeling was "imaginary", then, after the death of Lensky, after confessing to Tatyana. And he will regret that nothing can be corrected, returned.
Lensky is the exact opposite of Onegin. Pushkin treats him with irony and tenderness. Herzen said this about him: "This is one of those chaste natures who cannot acclimatize in a depraved and insane environment; having accepted life, they can accept nothing more from this impure soil, except death." Lensky is a star that flared up to go out. I think he should have died. Such a soul could not accept the conditions of life and see the world soberly, could not, as Belinsky writes, "develop and move forward." Otherwise, Lensky would have become a copy of Onegin, and this
unacceptable. But, nevertheless, for all their dissimilarity, there was something that united them. They stood out from the crowd. They are the "white crows" of that time. This is their difference from the rest of the world.
The descriptions of Onegin and Lensky are imbued with Decembrist sentiments. And they are suitable for the role of the Decembrists, but not one of them becomes one. Why? Yes, because Onegin is an individualist, who cannot imagine life next to someone, focusing on himself, and not on the general life - this is the difference that separated Onegin from the Decembrists.
Lensky was closer to them, but he also did not become one:
He believed that friends were ready
It is an honor to accept his chains
And that their hand will not tremble
Break the slanderer's vessel...
The death of Lensky was written after the death of the Decembrists. This is no coincidence. His death is described in such tones that makes us think of a huge catastrophe. He dies too soon. This emphasizes his similarity with the Decembrists.
But Tatyana Larina's name day is coming. They become a turning point in the lives of the heroes. During them, the world in which Lensky lived was blown up. Blown up brazenly and unceremoniously. Destroyed by Onegin - a former best friend, and now an enemy. And they are both to blame. Onegin is angry with Lensky, because he said that there would be no one at the name day, and the hall was full of guests. Onegin is forced to communicate with them, so carefully guarding his privacy. Onegin decides to take revenge:
Approaching the moment of revenge,
Onegin, secretly smiling,
Suitable for Olga. Fast with her
Spins around the guests
Then he puts her on a chair.
Starts talking about this, about this;
After two minutes later
Again with her he continues the waltz;
Everyone is in amazement. Lensky himself
Doesn't believe his own eyes.
He starts flirting with Olga. For him, this is just a game, the hero does not suspect what a storm of feelings he aroused in Lensky's soul. The game with feelings, so familiar to Onegin, for Lensky turns into a game with fate. Insulted, he challenges his friend to a duel. Onegin is surprised. He sees no reason for a duel, but agrees without hesitation. Only after the death of Lensky, he realizes what he has done, but it's too late. He is "smitten". However, the shock for Onegin is not the death of Lensky, but the realization that the feeling of superiority, which he was so proud of, suddenly disappeared, leaving him defenseless. Here it is impossible to say with certainty who is to blame for the duel and its tragic outcome. Onegin? Yes, he only wanted to annoy Lensky, to take revenge for no one knows why. Onegin did not suspect what it would lead to. Pushkin describes his condition after Lensky's death in the following way:
They were overcome with anxiety
Wanderlust
(A very painful property;
Few. voluntary cross).
He could have canceled the duel, but he didn't because he was too influenced by the times. And this is his fault.
Lensky's fault is that he is very quick-tempered and jealous, but is it really fault? Then the fault is that he, having already repented of his impulse, did not cancel the fatal meeting. Or maybe Pushkin is to blame for bringing them together? But whoever is to blame, Lensky's death is the main event of the whole novel, its turning point.
A.S. Pushkin's novel "Eugene Onegin" was for his contemporaries a work of universal significance, as he taught to live, correctly evaluate and choose life paths, taught morality, reason, originality and citizenship. "Reading Pushkin, you can excellently educate a person in yourself" (V. G. Belinsky)
Bibliography
For the preparation of this work, materials from the site http://www.bobych.spb.ru/
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He sat down, flies to the mill.
Rushed. He tells the servant
Lepage trunks fatal
Carry after him, and the horses
Drive off into the field to two oak trees.
Lean on the dam, Lensky
I've been waiting impatiently for a long time;
Meanwhile, the village mechanic,
Zaretsky condemned millstones.
Onegin goes with an apology.
"But where," he said with astonishment
Zaretsky, where is your second?
In duels, a classic and a pedant,
He loved the method out of feeling,
And stretch the man
He did not allow somehow
But in the strict rules of art,
According to all the legends of antiquity
(What we should praise in it).
"My second? Eugene said,
Here he is: my friend, monsieur Guillot.
I foresee no objection
For my presentation:
Although he is an unknown person,
But certainly an honest little one.”
Zaretsky bit his lip.
Onegin Lensky asked:
"Well, start?" - Let's start
perhaps,-
Vladimir said. And let's go
For the mill. While away
Our Zaretsky and honest fellow -
Entered into an important agreement
Enemies stand with downcast eyes.
Enemies! How long apart
Was their bloodlust taken away?
How long have they been hours of leisure,
Meal, thoughts and deeds
Shared together? Now it's wicked
Like hereditary enemies,
As in this terrible, incomprehensible thing,
They are each other in silence
Prepare for death in cold blood...
Do not laugh at them until
Their hand did not turn red,
Do not part amicably?
But wildly secular feud
Fear of false shame.
Now the pistols are flashing
A hammer rattles on a ramrod.
Bullets go into the faceted barrel,
And he pulled the trigger for the first time.
Here is gunpowder in a grayish stream
Falls on the shelf. jagged,
Securely screwed flint
Still raised. For the near stump
Guillo becomes embarrassed.
Cloaks are thrown by two enemies.
Zaretsky thirty-two steps
Measured with excellent accuracy,
Friends spread on the last trace,
And each took his gun.
"Now come down."
in cold blood
Not a target yet, two enemies
Gait firm, quiet, even
Four steps passed
Four death steps.
Your gun then Eugene,
Never stop advancing
Became the first to quietly raise.
Here are five more steps
And Lensky, screwing up his left eye,
He also began to aim - but just
Onegin fired ... They struck
Fixed hours: poet
Silently drops the gun
He puts his hand gently on his chest
And falls. misty eye
Depicts death, not flour.
So slowly down the mountain slope
Shining sparks in the sun,
A block of snow falls.
Immersed in instant cold
Onegin hurries to the young man,
He looks, calls him ... in vain:
He no longer exists. Young singer
Found an untimely end!
The storm has died, the color is beautiful
Withered at the morning dawn,
Extinguished the fire on the altar!..
He lay motionless, and strange
There was a languid world of his chela.
He was wounded through the chest;
Blood flowed from the wound.
A moment ago
In this heart beat inspiration,
Enmity, hope and love,
Life played, blood boiled, -
Now, as in an empty house,
Everything in it is both quiet and dark;
It is silent forever.
Shutters closed, windows chalked
Whitewashed. There is no hostess.
Where, God knows. Lost a trace.
Pleasantly cheeky epigram
Enrage a blundered enemy;
It's nice to see how he is, stubbornly
Bowing his boisterous horns,
Involuntarily looking in the mirror
And he is ashamed to recognize himself;
It's nicer if he, friends,
Howl foolishly: it's me!
Even more pleasant in silence
Him to prepare an honest coffin
And quietly aim at the pale forehead
At a noble distance;
But send him to his fathers
You will hardly be pleased.
Well, if your pistol
A young friend is smitten,
With an immodest look, or an answer,
Or another trifle
Who offended you over a bottle,
Or even himself in an ardent annoyance
Proudly challenging you to battle,
Say: with your soul
What feeling will take over
When immovable, on the ground
Before you with death on your forehead,
He gradually stiffens
When he is deaf and silent
To your desperate call?
In anguish of heart remorse,
hand holding a pistol,
Yevgeny looks at Lensky.
"Well? killed, ”the neighbor decided.
Killed!.. With a terrible exclamation;
Struck, Onegin with a shudder
He leaves and calls people.
Zaretsky carefully puts
On the sleigh the corpse is icy;
He brings home a terrible treasure.
Sensing the dead, they snore
And the horses are fighting with white foam
Steel wet the bit,
And they flew like an arrow.
At the beginning of the 20th century, duels were quite common among the Russian nobility, especially among military youth, trained to fight not for life, but for death. Fights were brought to Russia by the French. There was even a special dueling code. True, the government tried to fight them, realizing that in these battles for honor, smart, loyal to the tsar young people are dying, who can bring much more benefit to the state than just putting a bullet in someone's forehead. Moreover, quarrels broke out quite often because of stupid trifles.
In the episode of the novel "Eugene Onegin", dedicated to the duel between Lensky and Onegin, one can see a prophecy, a fatal prediction, as if Pushkin described his own death. It was guessed that the duel was due to the woman he loved, and that it would take place in the winter. Pushkin knew firsthand about fights. The poet has been there many times. Being a suspicious and quick-tempered person, Alexander Sergeevich himself more than once threw down the gauntlet. Therefore, he was familiar with the experiences before the first duel, he knew how an experienced and cold-blooded person behaves.
However, the plot with the duel could have been born under the influence of one event that happened to Pushkin in the spring of 1927. In April 1827, the author of "Eugene Onegin" was challenged to a duel by Vladimir Solomirsky because of the beautiful Sofya Urusova, whom Pushkin liked, but with whom Solomirsky was in love. True, the poet's friends reconciled them, but this did not prevent Pushkin from writing an episode with a tragic end.
