Previous
Chapter 3
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Eugene Onegin, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Youth, Regrets, and the Passage of Time
Love, Courtship, and Marriage
Poetry vs. Reality
Russian Identity
Summary
Analysis
The narrator believes it’s easier to woo a woman one doesn’t actually love. He finds the whole ritual of courtship exhausting. Eugene used to feel the same way. At one point, Eugene stopped feeling romantic attraction altogether, but Tatyana’s letter stirred something in him. Now, in the present as Eugene stands outside Tatyana’s house, he gives her a speech that begins with how much the letter moved him.
Although the narrator spoke fondly of romance in previous chapters, as he goes on, he becomes more cynical and exhausted, reflecting how many of the characters themselves feel as the novel progresses. Still, Eugene’s ability to be moved by Tatyana’s letter is a sign that this cynicism may not be permanent and that it may still be possible to feel the passions of youth again, at least momentarily.
Themes
Eugene continues his speech, telling Tatyana that he’d marry her if he were looking to marry someone, but marriage isn’t in the future for him. He knows he’d be a bad husband. Although he loves her, he feels it’s better for both their sakes if he’s more like a brother and she learns to love someone else. Tatyana listens breathlessly in tears, then just silently bows and leaves at the end.
In his speech to Tatyana, which is one of the most famous parts of the novel, Eugene rejects his emotions, which were stirred by Tatyana’s letter, and instead focuses on the logical. He believes that he would be a bad husband for Tatyana, and so he reasons that any relationship between the two of them would be futile and not worth pursuing for any amount of time. Although Eugene presents himself as doing a noble, selfless thing, this passage raises the question of whether he’s deluding himself or even getting self-righteous about his stoic rejection of Tatyana, as he lectures her without considering her perspective.
Themes
Although the narrator thinks Eugene did the right thing, other people gossiping in the area look down on Eugene for rejecting Tatyana. The narrator believes that sometimes friends are the cruelest people of all when it comes to spreading gossip. The narrator goes on to say that it’s always dangerous when choosing whom to love—the safest option is to just choose oneself rather than making potentially futile efforts to love someone else.
Although the narrator is sympathetic to Eugene’s decision to reject Tatyana, this passage presents the narrator as potential unreliable. His comments about how a person should only love themselves contradict his earlier statements about love, and they also contradict the events of the novel, since Eugene ultimately comes to regret his solitary existence. In this light, the narrator’s comments read as a flimsy defense mechanism he has enacted to justify and feel better about his own regrets in life and in love.
Themes
Tatyana become pale and weak after her meeting with Eugene. Meanwhile, Lensky continues to fall more in love with Olga. They spend a lot of time together, and when he’s alone, he creates paintings and poems for her. His writing seems to just flow out of him because it's motivated by true love. He particularly enjoys reading his work aloud to Olga, who listens with interest, although the narrator warns that sometimes when a person seems to be in love, they aren’t always thinking of you. The narrator himself likes to read his own writing aloud to random people in his life like his neighbors or guests at dinners.
Tatyana’s paleness continues the representation of love and lovesickness as a physical disease. Meanwhile, Lensky’s love for Olga seems on the surface to be a perfect situation. Based on the narrator’s commentary, however, it’s clear that the relationship may not be as ideal as it seems. The narrator suggests that perhaps Lensky loves hearing his own voice more than he loves Olga—and that Olga likes the idea of romance more than she loves Lensky in particular. Given this, it seems that both characters are trying to act out romanticized scenarios they have gleaned from literature, rather than acting on their genuine emotions.
Themes
Get the entire Eugene Onegin LitChart as a printable PDF.
The narrator turns his attention back to Eugene. He gets into a routine for the summer of waking up at the same time every day and going for a sim in the local stream. He takes long walks across the property and doesn’t pay much attention to any of the people living in town. When it becomes winter, however, Eugene has a more difficult time enjoying the pleasures of nature. He becomes lazy, and his only entertainment is playing a version of billiards with himself.
The solitary life that Eugene spends in the country contrasts sharply with the busy social calendar that he used to keep when he was living back in St. Petersburg. At first, this seems to have a healing effect on him, as nature provides him with something more fulfilling than the social life he used to have. As time goes on, however, Eugene becomes increasingly frustrated by his solitary life, showing how as much as Eugene’s life earlier was empty, his current escape to the country is just a way to run away from his problems rather than address them.
Themes
One day that winter, Lensky comes to dinner with Eugene. They talk until the fire in Eugene’s home starts to go out. Eugene asks about Olga and Tatyana, and Lensky says the family is doing well, and he goes on about Olga’s good qualities. Suddenly, he remembers that he was supposed to tell Lensky that he is invited to come to their house next week. It’s Tatyana’s name day celebration, and Lensky insists Eugene must come. Lensky reveals that he’s marrying Olga in two weeks. The narrator warns that Lensky hasn’t yet imagined how boring married life can be.
A name day is a Christian holiday a person celebrates on a day associated with the saint or Biblical figure who shares their name. Lensky is well aware of the situation between Eugene and Tatyana, having made the reference earlier to how Eugene was busy with his mail, and so he invites Eugene to the name day celebration knowing that tension. The narrator’s warning to Lensky is another sign of the narrator’s cynicism and a sign of how, despite his protestations, the narrator does indeed have much in common with Eugene.
Themes
