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Eugene Onegin RAL - Update 3

2/4/2014

Read-Along button provided by Tanglewood

Continuing along with the Eugene Onegin Read-Along being hosted by Tanglewood I have completed Chapters 5 and 6.

My first attempt to read Chapter 5 ended miserably, I got caught up in Tatyana's dream and slipped into a Pushkin induced sleep and didn't recall anything past the first few stanzas. So I waited a few days to see if I could succeed with a better reading. Today went better and I was able to make it through 5 and 6 without nodding off.

This section starts with our dejected lovestruck Tatyana having a very weird dream filled with imagery that makes no sense to her. Aside from the forest creatures the dreams includes her sister Olga and her fiance Lensky, Eugene and herself. She tries to consult her dream analysis book to riddle out the pieces, which is no help, but she nevertheless cannot get past the feeling this dream foretells of nothing good.

All signs and portents quite alarmed her,
All objects either scared or charmed her
With secret meanings they'd impart;
Forebodings filled and pressed her heart.
(Chapter 5, Part of Stanza 5)

Her namesake party arrives and Eugene true to his word arrives with Lensky. Neighborhood buzzing has determined that a match is to be made between Tatyana and Eugene, so they are seated across from one another. Eugene notices how this disturbs Tatyana and how she has lost her lively look. He seems to feel her pain in the sense that he wants to make Lensky pay for causing her discomfort. Eugene set out to monopolize Olga's time and danced the night away with her, causing Lensky to fly into a jealous rage and think Olga never cared for him.

And noting how poor Tanya shook,
He barely hid his angry look
And fumed in sullen indignation;
He swore that he'd make Lensky pay
And be avenged that very day.
(Chapter 5, Part of Stanza 31)

Well, she's just promised his good friend
The next dance too. In God's creation!
What's this he hears? Could she intend?...
Can this be real? Scarce more than swaddler -
And turned coquette! A fickle toddler!
(Chapter 5, Part of Stanza 45)

Maybe Lensky being such a young buck is what pushed him to what seemed like the only rational solution to this his jealous rage, a good ole' duel. He quickly dashes off a letter to Onegin calling him out for his poor behavior and requesting a proper challenge. Onegin seemed a little conflicted, maybe had Lensky called him out at the party all would have been well, and the two would continue on as friends. That time has passed and instead of being the bigger man he accepts the challenge, ending as in Tatyana's dream Lensky dies at the hand of Onegin.

Previous updates from Read-Along: Update 1 (Ch 1 & 2); Update 2 (Ch 3 & 4).

The quotes come from Oxford University Press edition ISBN: 9780199538645.

[Notice: Original posting 2014-02-04 at Plethora of Books Blog: http://bookchallenges.weebly.com]

Tags: Read-Alongs; Onegin

2 Comments

Cleo @ Classical Carousel link

2/6/2014 06:46:16 am

Good grief! I had my post sitting in draft for about a week, thinking that I'd posted it already. :-Z

What stubborn, pig-headed, infantile men. As the duel approached neither really wanted to fight but pride made them. This is not a "pride under good regulation" as Mr. Darcy would say.

Will Onegin change? Will Tatyana be more mooning and morose, or less? Stay tuned, huh?

Plethora

2/6/2014 08:23:54 am

Good thing I finally caught up and posted to free your post. ;)

Yes, they seemed to have backed themselves in to a corner. The social implications connected to refusing a duel or even "throwing" the outcome by firing into the air all something we can't really understand. Really, shake hands, have a vodka and go back to being pals.