In Alexander Pushkin's novel Eugene Onegin, of course, Tatyana Larina is the main female image. The love story of this girl was subsequently sung by both playwrights and composers. In our article, the characterization of Tatyana Larina is constructed from the point of view of her assessment by the author and in comparison with her sister Olga. Both of these characters in the work are shown by completely opposite natures. Of course, we must not forget about the love line of the novel. In relation to Onegin, the heroine also shows us certain aspects of her character. We will analyze all these aspects below so that Tatyana Larina’s description is the most complete. To begin, let's get to know her sister and herself.
Tatyana and Olga Larins: dissimilar sisters
You can talk about the main character of the novel for a very long time and a lot. But the image of her sister - Olga Larina - Pushkin showed rather succinctly. The poet considers her virtues to be modesty, obedience, innocence and gaiety. The author saw the same character traits in almost every village young lady; therefore, she makes it clear to the reader that he is bored of describing her. Olga has commonplace character traits of a village girl. But the image of Tatyana Larina is already more mysterious and complex. If we talk about Olga, then the main value for her is a cheerful carefree life. Of course, Lensky’s love is present in her, but she does not understand his feelings. Here Pushkin is trying to show her self-esteem, which is absent, if we consider the nature of Tatyana Larina. Olga, this simple-minded girl, is unfamiliar with the difficult spiritual work, therefore, she reacted frivolously to the death of the groom, quickly replacing him with the “love ladder” of another man.
Comparative analysis of the image of Tatyana Larina
Against the background of the rustic simplicity of the sister, Tatyana seems to us and the author a perfect woman. Pushkin even states this quite bluntly, calling the heroine of his work “a sweet ideal”. A brief description of Tatyana Larina is inappropriate here. This is a multifaceted character, the girl understands the causes of her feelings and actions, and even analyzes them. This once again proves that Tatyana and Olga Larins are absolute opposites, although they were sisters and were brought up in the same cultural environment.
Author's assessment of Tatyana's character
What kind of heroine does Pushkin present to us? Simplicity, sluggishness, thoughtfulness are inherent in Tatyana. The poet pays special attention to such a quality of her character as faith in mysticism. Signs, traditions, phase changes of the moon - all this she notices and analyzes. The girl loves to guess, and also attaches great importance to dreams. Pushkin did not ignore Tatyana’s love of reading. Brought up on typical female fashion novels, the heroine sees her love as though through a prism of a book, idealizing it. She loves winter with all its shortcomings: darkness, twilight, cold and snow. Pushkin also emphasizes that the heroine of the novel “Russian soul” is an important moment for Tatyana Larina’s characterization to be most complete and understandable to the reader.
The influence of village customs on the character of the heroine
Pay attention to the time in which the subject of our conversation lives. This is the first half of the 19th century, which means that Tatyana Larina’s characteristic is, in fact, a characteristic of Pushkin’s contemporaries. The character of the heroine is closed and modest, and reading her description given to us by the poet, it can be noted that we practically do not know anything about the girl’s appearance. Thus, Pushkin makes it clear that what is important is not external beauty, but internal character traits. Tatyana is young, but looks like an adult and established personality. She did not like children's fun and playing with dolls, she was attracted to mysterious stories and love suffering. After all, the heroines of your favorite novels always go through a series of difficulties and experience suffering. The image of Tatyana Larina is harmonious, soft, but surprisingly sensual. Such people are often found in real life.
Tatyana Larina in a love relationship with Eugene Onegin
How do we see the main character when it comes to love? She meets Eugene Onegin, already being ready for relationships internally. She is "waiting ... for someone", Alexander Pushkin carefully points out this to us. But do not forget where Tatyana Larina lives. The characterization of her love relationship also depends on the strange village customs. This is manifested in the fact that Eugene Onegin visits the girl’s family only once, but people around already speak of engagement and marriage. In response to these rumors, Tatyana begins to consider the main character as an object of her sighs. From this we can conclude that the experiences of Tatiana are far-fetched, artificial. She carries all her thoughts in herself, longing and sadness live in her soul in love.
The famous message of Tatiana, his motives and consequences
And the feelings are so strong that there is a need to express them, continuing the relationship with Eugene, but he no longer comes. It was impossible to take the girl a first step according to the etiquette of those times, it was considered a frivolous and ugly act. But Tatyana finds a way out - she writes a love letter to Onegin. Reading it, we see that Tatyana is a very noble, pure person, high thoughts reign in her soul, she is strict with herself. Evgeny’s refusal to accept her love for a girl is, of course, discouraging, but the feeling in her heart does not go out. She tries to understand his act, and she succeeds.
Tatyana after unsuccessful love
Realizing that Onegin prefers quick hobbies, Tatiana goes to Moscow. Here we already see a completely different person in her. She overcame a blind, unrequited feeling in herself.
But in
secular society, Tatiana feels a stranger, she is far from his fuss, splendor, gossip and attends dinners most often in the company of her mother. The unsuccessful
first love made her indifferent to all subsequent hobbies of the opposite sex. The whole character that we observed at the beginning of the novel “Eugene Onegin” was shown to be broken and destroyed by the end of the work. As a result, Tatyana Larina remained a “black sheep” in high society, but her inner purity and pride could help others see her as a true lady. Her detached behavior and at the same time an unmistakable knowledge of etiquette, courtesy and hospitality attracted attention, but at the same time forced to stay at a distance, so Tatyana was above gossip.
The final choice of the heroine
At the end of the novel "Eugene Onegin" Pushkin, completing the plot, gives his "sweet ideal" a happy family life. Tatyana Larina grew up spiritually, but even in the last lines of the novel, she confesses her love to Eugene Onegin. Moreover, this feeling is no longer dominant over her; she makes a conscious choice in favor of loyalty to her rightful husband and virtue.
Onegin also draws attention to the "new" for him Tatiana. He does not suspect that she has not changed, she simply “outgrew” him and “got sick” with her former painful love. Therefore, she rejected his courtship. This is how the main character of Eugene Onegin appears before us. Her main character traits are strong will, self-confidence, good nature. Unfortunately, Pushkin showed in his work how such people can be unhappy, because they see that the world is not at all what they would like. Tatyana has a difficult fate, but her desire for personal happiness helps her overcome all hardships.