Eugene Onegin

Chapter 8 of Eugene Onegin is the story of the narrator’s past. The narrator, a thinly-veiled version of Pushkin himself, asserts his own poetic credentials and describes his time at the Lycée in Paris. Like Lensky, he felt inspired by muses and literature. In the context of this poetic rumination, however, he spots Onegin at a party. The structure of the poem means that the first and last chapter both begin with the narrator spotting Onegin out and about in Russian high society. This time, however, something is different. In the opening chapter, Onegin attended the social events of Saint Petersburg in an almost ironic fashion. He performed a public persona that was everything he loathed about high society, employing a theatrical critique of the alienation and disgust he felt at the time, which supports the theme of The Construction of Identity. In the final chapter, however, everything has changed. After the death of Lensky at his hand, Onegin is a changed man. He lacks the energy and charisma of his early life. Rather than parodying and satirizing Russian society, Onegin is subjecting himself to it. The social etiquette of the duel means that it is an accepted form of violence. Onegin is not formally punished for killing Lensky, as the act of violence is endorsed by social convention. However, this is not enough for Onegin. Part of the reason why he hates the society is that it could tolerate a man like him, someone who has done what he has done. After a brief self-imposed exile, Onegin returns to Russia and to the lifestyle that he loathes. This time, the experience is a form of self-discipline. Onegin throws himself into the social scene as a form of purgatory, using the society itself as a disciplinary tool and trapping himself in a world he hates until he has atoned for Lensky’s death.

Amid this purgatorial self-discipline, Onegin’s life is thrown into chaos by the reappearance of Tatyana. Again, the poem creates a contrast between the naive young girl who dreamed of love and the mature, reserved woman who has a captivating authority about her. Her vulnerability has been replaced by confidence, and her maturity is now contrasted with Onegin’s sullen regret. The contrast between the different versions of Tatyana is so striking that Onegin is actually able to feel something. The deadened, broken emotions that have driven him to self-discipline in the wake of Lensky’s death are stirred once again. Structurally, the poem creates an inversion between Onegin and Tatyana. His behavior is a mirror of hers, in that he falls in love, writes a letter, feels as though he is wasting away, and then is rejected in a showdown with his would-be lover. The ramifications of Onegin’s actions are deeply ironic. His stinging rebuke of Tatyana’s naivety has driven her into a hardened, cynical worldview that mirrors his own, which supports the theme of Cynicism and Naivety. She has become like him and, because she is hardened to emotion in this way, she cannot be with him. Onegin’s criticism of Tatyana leads directly to her rejection of him. His happiness is denied to him by his own actions, undertaken many years before. Just as he believed he might escape his purgatorial torment, his tragic past returns to him to punish him again.

After Tatyana rejects Onegin for the final time, the poem ends with her husband entering the room. In this moment, Onegin is driven back into the wilderness. He exposed his true self briefly, allowing Tatyana to glimpse his vulnerability as no other person had ever done. With the return of her husband, however, he must slip back into his public persona. He is forced to hide his true self once again and play the role of the public Onegin, the mask that he wears to hide his vulnerability from the world. As Tatyana has adopted a public identity that shields her cynical self from the vapidity of the world, Onegin is forced to do so once again. His carefully constructed public persona was once a satirical way to mock his society. Now, it has become a millstone around his neck that reminds him of his tragic past.