The Tatyana Caste

Want to read the rest of this paper? Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay and over 50,000 other term papers

of the early 1830's – Balzac's "Eugenie Grandet" and, even more notably, Pushkin's "Onegin" –, each dealing with the same kind of pastoral, embowered, dreamy, grave and generally misunderstood girls or young women. This 'caste' sticks out of its rustic environment like a sore thumb, often being regarded by their own relatives and acquaintances as hopeless misfits, spinsters or nuns to be; being highly sensitive, imaginative and deep-feeling, they find it exceptionally hard, even actually impossible, to become accepted and understood within their immediate environment made up of generally cruder and simpler sorts. Thus, these girls feel obliged to create a world of their own as a progressive act of counterbalance and self-condolence, rich with remnants of childhood fantasy, romantic works they've read and an air of bittersweet wistfulness. Pushkin's memorable portrayal of Tatyana as a child may well resemble the early years of the Shalott Lady:

"She was no beauty, like her ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays. Write better papers. Get better grades. Already a member? Login

of all the romantic pieces she reads. Both of them view life through their own peculiar, distanced way that stands between them and life itself; and they don't feel like giving their ways up, being locked into a durable pattern.

"She has heard a whisper say,
A curse is on her if she stay
To look down on Camelot."

The mysterious whisper might be none else than her very own, girlish fear of life that prohibits her from opening up to unbridled passion, thus becoming a Woman; a kind of self-delusion not at all unfamiliar to the mental world of her 'soulsister' Tatyana; as she gives it away in her letter to Onegin:

"Why did you come to visit us?
In this forgotten rural home
Your ...

Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library. Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports, and research papers in 2 minutes or less.

CITE THIS PAGE: