# Epigraph explained — Eugene Onegin

> Chapter companion for Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin.

## What happens

The epigraph introduces a character steeped in vanity and a peculiar pride that allows him to confess both good and bad deeds with equal indifference, stemming from a perhaps imagined sense of superiority.

## Themes in this chapter

### The Aristocratic Malaise

The epigraph's description of vanity and imagined superiority captures the ennui and moral emptiness of the aristocracy.

## Character check-ins

### Eugene Onegin

The epigraph describes a man with vanity and pride, likely foreshadowing Onegin's character.

## Key lines

> Pétri de vanité, il avait encore plus de cette espèce d’orgueil, qui fait avouer avec la même indifference les bonnes comme les mauvaises actions, suite d’un sentiment de supériorité, peut-être imaginaire.

Kneaded from vanity, he also possessed that kind of pride which makes one confess good and bad deeds with equal indifference, stemming from a perhaps imaginary sense of superiority.

_This epigraph sets the tone for the protagonist's complex psychology._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/eugene_onegin_se/chapters/epigraph
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/eugene_onegin_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/eugene_onegin_se/chapters