Why do you think that Onegin refussed Tatianas love in the beginning? becuase she was a girl from a village who was inferior to him or because he was feeling that he was the one who was inferior to her? I mean that he was inferior sentimentically, that he didnt have her power.
Evi
I can still remeber his words:
Al' nisam sazdan za blaženstvo
i dušom ostajem mu stran,
zaludu vaše savršenstvo
ja njega nisam dostojan!
Beautiful quote, I'll always remeber it!
He said that although she was beutiful and everything, he wasn't looking for love or anything like, and she wouldn't be completly happy with him. He liked her, but not that much like she liked him and I think that was the reason he refused her.
At thunder and tempest, At the world's coldheartedness,
During times of heavy loss And when you're sad
The greatest art on earth Is to seem uncomplicatedly gay.
To get things clear, they have to firstly be very unclear. But if you get them too quickly, you probably got them wrong.
If you need me urgent, send me a PM
I agree with Bazarov. It's not that he wasn't interested, but I think he realized she wasn't a girl to be "trifled" with. He knew how she felt about him but also had enough respect for her not to take advantage of those feelings. I think if her feelings for him hadn't run so deep, if she hadn't been the upright woman she was, he might've given her a "go" but as it was, he was actually being very much the gentleman.
the luminous grass of the prairie hides
feet lovely and still as sleeping doves,
porcelain bones strong enough to carry a life,
but weighty and unmovable
As black Dakota hills. ~ Riesa
Yes, i agree with you that he reacted as a gentleman , but poor him, he denied love from his life for ever. How can a sophisticated , intelectual man refusing this way a girl he really liked? I think that the whole drama of the story is beginning from this fact. What do you think?
Evi
I can tell you what was drilled into the heads of poor Russian students in USSR- Onegin is not worthy of Tatyana, who is the perfect representation of Russian woman, Russian national spirit, etc. Onegin is completely spoiled by society, he is another "Hero of his time", who is already not able to do anything useful with himself and not able to love. He is even a real person, just another hero from lord Byron's books.
Well, I was lucky that I studied it already in the 90s.
Well, you probably did at least for once in your life something although you knew you will regret after it. Everybody does it, and so did Onegin. Maybe he thought it will past away, he will lose his feelings for her, and one day she will be just a happy memory from his youth.Well, he thought it wrong...
At thunder and tempest, At the world's coldheartedness,
During times of heavy loss And when you're sad
The greatest art on earth Is to seem uncomplicatedly gay.
To get things clear, they have to firstly be very unclear. But if you get them too quickly, you probably got them wrong.
If you need me urgent, send me a PM
Well, what I think, and my thinking, admittedly, isn't always that sophisticated but I don't believe he really understood the depth of his feelings for her. He was a classic rogue at the time, always having affairs and although she fascinated him and even garnered more respect than usual from him, I think he felt pretty confident he would get over her once he got back to his 'regular' life. I really believe he was taken completely by surprise by how she effected him and the fact that he couldn't get her out of his head. She seemed to sense the connection right away while it took him a little longer...I think the whole story is about bad timing.Originally Posted by Evi
the luminous grass of the prairie hides
feet lovely and still as sleeping doves,
porcelain bones strong enough to carry a life,
but weighty and unmovable
As black Dakota hills. ~ Riesa
Guys, you ar emaking me really happy that i can discuss about this book, thank you!
I quite agree with all of you. Yes, Bazarov, all of us we have made things that we regreted afterwards. In Greek we also have an expression about such situations: "Why i couldnt have this last thought earlier?"
Idril,yes, he couldnt exactly understand in teh beginning the deapth of the feelings that she had for him. For him , she was another girl and as we said before he was respecting her and he didnt want just to spend a few nights with her. Maybe you are right about the bad timing: when he realised the whole situation it was too late. Every time when i am reading the last pages of this book i feel so sad.
Evi
Well, I'm not so sure...Onegin didn't have that much affairs and he surely wouldn't look for advanture with Tatyana. From the story we see that in his youth he was bonvivan snd dandy, but he got bored and tired from that kind of life, we can see that clearly from his conversations with Lensky. He thought he will never fall in love for real. He did aslo suddenly became an honorable men so he behaved very honest to her.
"Why i couldnt have this last thought earlier?"
No, the correct would be :''I did know that I will regret, but I did it anyway!''
At thunder and tempest, At the world's coldheartedness,
During times of heavy loss And when you're sad
The greatest art on earth Is to seem uncomplicatedly gay.
To get things clear, they have to firstly be very unclear. But if you get them too quickly, you probably got them wrong.
If you need me urgent, send me a PM
Bazarov,
I can understand what you mean by the phrase "'I did know that I will regret, but I did it anyway" . But i was meaning about something else, maybe my English doesnt allow me to express myself correctly. I was talking about a phrase we have here: a freely translation in english of this expression would be: "wisdome came late to me". I dont think that Onegin knew that he will regret anyway, i think that he didnt know what he lost with his decision not to be possitive to her love. He regret of course but when he regreted it was too late to change the situation. Just my humple opinion.
Evi
Nice humple opinion
At thunder and tempest, At the world's coldheartedness,
During times of heavy loss And when you're sad
The greatest art on earth Is to seem uncomplicatedly gay.
To get things clear, they have to firstly be very unclear. But if you get them too quickly, you probably got them wrong.
If you need me urgent, send me a PM
Bazarov,
I have thought many times about this: if i was in her place what i would have done:staying with my husband or lefting him for the love of my life. It is a difficult question for everyone i guess. i dont know why but i feel more sorry for Onegin, i think that it must be a second chance for everyone. And he didnt have his second chance in life. Myabe Tatayana is the perfect woman but we are not perfect human beings.
Evi
I think it's hard to imagine what we would do in that situation, there is the argument of being true to yourself and doing what makes you happy and then there are your obligations and your guilt, if she did choose to be with Onegin, would her guilt of leaving her husband eventually destroy the relationship, would she share a fate of that of Anna Kerenina? There are so many thing to consider when making a decision like that...I can't remember, did she and her husband have children at that point?
I would imagine Tatayana struggles with it quite a bit as well. At least Onegin is free to love again if and when he recovers from this heartbreak, she is trapped in a loveless marriage for the rest of her life, with no real hope of a reprieve, thinking of what could've been. I don't really believe she's able to just turn off her feelings for him because she made the choice to stay, the sad thing is, I think they'll both be miserable for a long time.
the luminous grass of the prairie hides
feet lovely and still as sleeping doves,
porcelain bones strong enough to carry a life,
but weighty and unmovable
As black Dakota hills. ~ Riesa
When I look at it, Onegin is a 'dandy'- he suppresses emotion.
But at the same time, I agree, he probably didn't believe he should disillusion Tatiana by giving her this false impression that he loved her. I think he didn't want her to be hurt, which shows a degree of love, but at the same time, when you look at Onegin, what kind of capacity did he have at that point in the narrative to love her devotedly? He didn't strike me as the 'type' of person who would want to commit himself entirely to a woman.
No, we wasn't and rejecting her at that point was the honorable thing to do, just as her rejecting him in favor of her husband was the honorable thing to do but they both still end up unhappy. Honor is for suckers.
the luminous grass of the prairie hides
feet lovely and still as sleeping doves,
porcelain bones strong enough to carry a life,
but weighty and unmovable
As black Dakota hills. ~ Riesa
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