# XXXV explained — Eugene Onegin

> Chapter companion for Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin.

## What happens

The narrator explores Onegin's malady, identifying it as the 'British spleen' transplanted to Russia. Onegin becomes indifferent to everything, resembling Childe Harold in his gloom, and is unmoved by social gatherings, games, or romantic advances.

## Themes in this chapter

### The Aristocratic Malaise

Onegin's spleen and indifference exemplify the aristocratic boredom and disillusionment characteristic of the Russian nobility.

## Character check-ins

### Eugene Onegin

Onegin's malady of spleen is described; he is indifferent to all, attending festivals gloomily like Childe Harold.

## Key lines

> His malady, whose cause I ween It now to investigate is time, Was nothing but the British spleen Transported to our Russian clime.

His illness, which I now have time to examine, was simply the English melancholy brought to Russia.

_The narrator diagnoses Onegin's condition as a cultural import of British ennui._

> Indifferent he became to all, And like Childe Harold gloomily He to the festival repairs

He grew indifferent to everything and, like Childe Harold, attended festivities in a gloomy mood.

_Onegin's behavior mirrors the Byronic hero's detached melancholy._

## Links

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