The secondary heroine in A. S. Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin” is Olga Larina, Tatyana’s younger sister. This is a charming girl, carefree and frivolous, capable of easily turning the heads of fans. Being Lensky's fiancée, she quickly forgets her lover when he dies in a duel and marries a new suitor. The characterization of Olga Larina is necessary in order to most fully, in contrast, demonstrate the personal qualities of the main character, Tatyana Larina, the depth of her nature, the subtlety of her soul.
a brief description of
Before reading this analysis, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the work of Eugene Onegin itself.
Full name : Olga Dmitrievna Larina.
Age : not specified, young girl.
Occupation - no specific type of activity.
Family - father Dmitry Larin, mother Polina Larina, older sister Tatyana.
Social status : noblewoman.
Origin - comes from a noble family.
Upbringing - well brought up, knows how to behave in high society.
Education is traditional for noble families.
Appearance : A slender, graceful girl with blond hair and blue eyes.
Personality : carefree, frivolous, flirtatious, cheerful.
Positive traits - she has a light, pleasant character, is always cheerful, cheerful.
Negative traits - frivolous, flighty, flirtatious, incapable of serious, deep feelings.
The work is “Eugene Onegin”.
Author - Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin.
Olga's appearance
It seems difficult to call the young creature a beauty. The girl's appearance is far from ideals and generally accepted standards.
“Olga in the strict sense was not a beauty... But if she were turned into a statue, she would be a statue of grace and harmony.”
Being short, she managed to walk like a queen, with her head held high. There was a sense of character in the girl, of becoming. She didn't pretend to be better. She didn’t flirt, she didn’t ingratiate herself. She was as natural as possible in expressing emotions and feelings. Everything about her was real, without a drop of falsehood or lies.
“In a rare girl you will find such simplicity and natural freedom of look, word, action... no lies, no tinsel, no intent!”
Biography
Olga Larina is a beautiful young girl, a noblewoman, the youngest daughter of the Larins landowners. Olga's parents were simple, hospitable people who loved their daughters and did not deny them anything. Their favorite was Olga, who from a young age had a light, cheerful character. The girl grew up modest, obedient, cheerful and did not cause her parents any worries or grief.
Olga's childhood friend was her neighbor's son, Vladimir Lensky. He was so fascinated by Olga’s clear blue eyes, her flaxen hair, and cheerful laughter that the children’s parents agreed among themselves to marry them as soon as they grew up.
When Lensky returned home after finishing his studies abroad, a wedding day was set. But the wedding never took place. At the ball, the flighty and frivolous Olga openly flirted with Onegin, which infuriated Lensky. The offended lover challenged Onegin to a duel, in which he was killed.
Olga did not grieve for long about the death of her groom. Her sadness was quickly dispelled by the young military man whom she married. Olga followed her husband, leaving her father's house forever.
Author's description
The reader gets to know Olga earlier than her sister. The poet introduces the girl immediately after the story about Lensky’s exceptional, unprecedented love. “Oh, he loved, as in our years people no longer love...” It was she, the friendly, sweet creature, who managed to evoke an unprecedented feeling that arose in childhood and did not cool down over the years of separation. The passion of the young poet is described in a romantic, somewhat pastoral spirit. Olga is a charming child growing up in the lap of nature, full of innocent charm. Lensky's childhood friendship with her develops into love, into worship, continuous admiration for every look, every movement and word of his friend.
However, having moved from the emotions possessing Lensky to the description of the heroine herself, Pushkin immediately reduces her image. Firstly, the author switches from sublimely romantic to simple “Onegin” almost colloquial language: pompous epithets and pastoral comparisons disappear (“under the humble canopy”, “bloomed like a secret lily of the valley”). Abstract vocabulary and traditional poetic images (“the first dream of youthful delight,” “his first groan”) are replaced by an almost dry enumeration: “Always modest, always obedient...”, “Eyes..., smile, flaxen curls..., movements, voice, light mill…". Having pronounced a not very pleasant verdict on the portrait of the beauty (“I’m tired of it immensely”), Alexander Sergeevich proceeds to describe Tatyana, who interests him much more. Pushkin initially builds the image of his beloved heroine in opposition to Olga. Tanya is not so beautiful, she doesn’t know how to be nice even with her family, she doesn’t like to play with dolls, she doesn’t do needlework, she doesn’t frolic with her friends. In general, everything that Olga does so well is alien to her.
But the most cruel sentence against Olga from Pushkin comes later, when, after the death of Vladimir, the poet talks about the hypothetical future of the young man. Considering, as an option, the “ordinary destiny” of a romantic, the author writes: “In the village he is happy and horny // He would wear a quilted robe...” Alexander Sergeevich casually makes it clear that he is convinced of Olenka’s infidelity, because she is ordinary and will live the ordinary life of a rural landowner , including cheating on her husband.
Olga Larina's image
The main qualities of Olga Larina that characterize her nature are carelessness and frivolity. From an early age, she easily captivated people with her spontaneity, playfulness, and natural liveliness. Olga was able to retain these same features with age, never ceasing to captivate the hearts of young people.
Olga is a rather simple, superficial person who has neither depth nor versatility. She captivates with her beauty and overflowing love of life, but behind the outer shell there are no spiritual riches. It is not for nothing that Onegin, being an experienced connoisseur of women, did not rate Olga highly, comparing her to the “stupid moon.”
Due to her character, Olga is not capable of strong, deep feelings. She treats Lensky favorably, taking his adoration for granted. An imminent wedding does not become an obstacle to flirting with the groom's friend - Olga loves to be the center of attention and openly flirts with Onegin.
The tragic death of the young poet does not affect Olga in any way. After grieving briefly over Lensky's grave, the flighty coquette hurries to marry the brilliant uhlan who has turned her head.
Check out what else we have:
for the most rational -
Summary of “Eugene Onegin”
for the most impatient -
A very brief summary of “Eugene Onegin”
for the most sociable -
The main characters of "Eugene Onegin"
for the busiest -
Reader's diary "Eugene Onegin"
for the coolest -
Read “Eugene Onegin” in full
Olga and Lensky
The Lensky and Larin families were neighbors and often visited each other. Older family members would be happy to become related. Therefore, the Lenskys’ son and the Larins’ youngest daughter were friends since childhood, played together, and, having matured, were supposed to become the bride and groom. “He shared her fun, //And the children were destined for crowns //Friends and neighbors, their fathers.” And so it happened: Olga and Vladimir became inseparable, spending all their time together. The young man was crazy about the beautiful bride. Even when parting with Olga, he thought about her all the time. He wrote odes about her and painted pictures of her. When they met, they walked for a long time in the garden, holding hands. He treated his beloved with trepidation, gently touching her curls during meetings or kissing the hem of her dress.
Lensky was jealous of Olga for all young people, so the girl’s flirtation with Onegin served as a reason for a duel. However, Vladimir quickly repented of his ardor, realizing that Olga was simply flirting and had already forgotten about her passion for Onegin during the dance. The morning after the ball, she joyfully met the groom. “All feelings in Lensky became clouded, //And silently he hung his nose. //Jealousy and annoyance have disappeared..."
But it was too late: the duel was scheduled, and the honor and pride of the nobleman did not allow him to change the decision. Stupid jealousy cost the poet his life.
Conclusion
Olga Larina is a minor character in A. S. Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin”. Bright, beautiful, cheerful, she immediately attracts attention, but in reality she is nothing interesting. The author does not hide his attitude towards Olga: he loved such anemones before, but he quickly became bored with all of them.
The role of the heroine is to unobtrusively emphasize all the beauty and spiritual qualities of her older sister, Tatyana. A quotation from Olga Larina will allow you to better prepare for a literature lesson, briefly describe a character, and write an essay on a given topic.
The collected material, which includes quotes from the text, allows you to independently characterize the character according to plan, help you compose a detailed written work or write an essay on a given topic.
Description of the heroine and examples of essays
For the first time on the pages of the work, the reader meets Olga through the perception of the noble Lensky. The author painted a beautiful portrait of a beauty, but at the same time does not consider her a model of perfection.
Appearance and character
Blue eyes, clear gaze, flaxen curls, light figure, attractive smile and ringing voice, grace, modesty - these are the striking characteristics of Olga in the novel “Eugene Onegin”. She is lovely, innocent and gentle.
In the work, the heroine is compared to a lily of the valley, which was untouched by neither moths nor bees. A. S. Pushkin constantly emphasizes that the girl was very beautiful and had “ruddy freshness.” These traits attracted people. In addition, in the novel “Eugene Onegin” the image of Olga Larina is presented with the following description:
- simple-minded;
- Darling;
- proud;
- sociable;
- flirtatious;
- cheerful;
- stupid, because she did not strive for knowledge;
- boring.
Olga was taught from childhood how to properly be in secular society. This is probably why she is frivolous. The heroine was bored at the balls, but never showed it.
The girl was carefree, cheerful, flighty, and remained that way forever. Those around her loved the heroine, she had many friends and admirers around her, but she was indifferent to them. The heroine did not mourn Lensky’s death for long; she was quickly able to be carried away by another young man.
The characterization of Olga from “Eugene Onegin” attracts, makes you admire the heroine more and more. The portrait of a girl allows you to get to know Lensky better, understand the reasons for his actions, and also reveal the image of Tatyana.
First option
Olga is a key character in the poem; she is Tatyana Larina’s younger sister. The heroine is sweet, modest, feminine, graceful, playful and carefree. The girl is incapable of conflict, she is not characterized by emotional impulses. She has a poor spiritual world and has limited views. This image can be found in many heroines of various works.
The author embodied in her the image of a beauty that people admire. At the same time, he compares her to the stupid moon. So A.S. Pushkin focuses on a beautiful young lady, but at the same time with a poor inner world. You can see behind this the heroine’s complacency, her pride, her consumerist attitude towards people.
After the duel, the reader can notice Olga's inability to deeply feel love. She doesn’t worry for long and accepts advances from someone else.
One might wonder why everything turned out smoothly in life for the youngest of the sisters, while the eldest had to marry an unloved person, but at the same time love Onegin all her life. In short, Olga had a frivolous attitude towards everything, she loved life and was cheerful. Apparently, that’s why she was able to overcome adversity and become happy.
Second essay
The unique work of A. S. Pushkin attracts the reader from the first lines. Each hero image is unique.
The poet contrasts the images of Olga and Tatyana Larin. Although the younger sister is a minor character, she is no less important. While reading the book, meeting Olga creates a pleasant impression . The girl is beautiful, friendly and sweet. Her fiancé idolizes her, but Onegin considers the girl simple.
At the beginning of the work, Olga appears to the reader as lively, interesting to men, bright, she accepts love, and Tatyana is withdrawn, gray, deprived of male attention, but capable of giving others a feeling of love.
After Lensky's death, a different image of Olga is revealed - unfaithful, frivolous. She quickly forgot the man who defended her honor. Against the background of these events, Tatyana appears before the reader from the other side: faithful, devoted, sensual, and having moral values. When Onegin met her already married, she refused him, because she was faithful to her husband and duty.
To summarize, we can say that Olga’s portrait, although not the main one in the novel, plays an important role in revealing the images of other characters. Thanks to this, A.S. Pushkin was able to convey to the audience the meaning of condemning the lifestyle of society of that time.
Third sample
The image of Olga helps to reveal the portrait of such heroes as Lensky and Tatyana. Vladimir is passionately in love with the Larins' younger sister. But, unfortunately, she is not familiar with this feeling yet. The girl knows from childhood that she will have to get married, and when Lensky drew attention to her, she calmly took it. Everyone around exerted invisible pressure, considering them a couple, and in the future husband and wife.
The girl, like a butterfly, flutters through life and does not think about how her actions and deeds will affect those around her. Olga doesn’t care about her groom’s feelings, and when she accepted Onegin’s advances, she doesn’t feel guilty about Lensky’s death. Although he died defending her honor. Larina quickly married someone else and was not particularly sad for Vladimir.
The author describes a typical portrait of many heroines similar to Olga. They are internally unspiritual, frivolous, despite the fact that they are externally beautiful. Such characters consume people for their own purposes. The combination of stupidity and beauty is what we see in the image of Olga.
Character
Oddly enough, she loved privacy. Noisy companies, cheerful gatherings with friends are not about Olga. She did not strive to acquire new acquaintances, revealing her soul to strangers. Some thought she was too smart, others, on the contrary, stupid.
“Some considered her to be narrow-minded, since wise maxims did not come out of her tongue...”
Not very talkative, she preferred to live in her shell. In that imaginary little world where it was good and calm. External calm was strikingly different from the internal state of the soul. The girl always knew clearly what she wanted from life and tried to implement her plans.
“If she has any intention, then things will boil over...”
