The Moon Symbol Analysis

The moon is a recurring image in Eugene Onegin that stands for brightness and beauty—but also coldness and distance. Eugene first references the moon to describe Olga, Lensky’s beloved. According to Eugene, Olga is “round and fair of face” but also “cold and dead,” which makes her resemble the moon in both appearance and personality. Lensky, however, takes offense at this description. While Lensky could be taking offense at Eugene’s lack of reverence for Olga, it’s also possible that Lensky reacts so negatively because Eugene has correctly observed the superficiality of Olga and Lensky’s romance, which looks pretty on the surface but ultimately offers very little in the way of genuine, mutual love and support. Notably, the  moon waxes and wanes in cycles, and this reflects the waxing and waning of unrestrained—or unexamined—passion. When Lensky is intoxicated with love for Olga, it blinds him to the reality of the romance, which is ultimately superficial and fleeting. Similarly, Tatyana’s passionate love for Eugene temporarily blinds her to his shallowness.

Later, however, the moon comes to be more associated with Tatyana, who to everyone except Eugene lives in the shadow of the brighter Olga. Like the moon, Tatyana is often distant, both emotionally and sometimes physically, as she tends to stay inside and avoid socializing. Tatyana herself takes an interest in the moon after she falls in love with Eugene and tries to use the moon as part of a divination ritual to discover her future husband. Although Tatyana doesn’t realize it, the moon does indeed give a hint about her marital future, showing how Eugene will coldly reject her, leading her to form her own cold and distant marriage with a general.

The cold beauty of the moon is also significant because it reflects the Russian landscape and countryside. As the narrator describes, Russia is often covered in snow, which makes travel slow and dangerous, but which also gives the land a tranquil beauty. The harsh, unrefined beauty of the moonlit Russian countryside points to a different aspect of the moon’s beauty, one unsullied by the artifice of social norms and romantic ideals. The moonlit Russian countryside—though harsh and unforgiving—offers a genuine, deeper beauty that eludes many of the characters as they turn to Western ideals and society to shape their understandings of life and of love. The moon in Eugene Onegin represents the coldness and isolation of life in Russia, particularly when it comes to romance, but it also hints at how even a harsh life—like the country’s harsh, moonlike landscape—can have moments of beauty.