View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What reason does the narrator give for detailing how differently he and Eugene Onegin feel about the country?

2. Which of the following does Eugene tell Tatyana in response to her letter?

3. Who is the narrator referring to when he says Tatyana is "relying on a tyrant's honour, you've now resigned to him your fate."

4. What do the neighbors think of Eugene after he rejects Tatyana?

5. Why does Vladimir Lensky leave the company of Eugene Onegin each evening once their friendship is established?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Eugene Onegin respond when Vladimir Lensky invites him to come with him to Tatyana's name day celebration? What changes his mind?

2. Describe the character of Eugene Onegin.

3. Vladimir writes his poetry inspired by Olga, but rarely gets to read it to her because she doesn't read poetry. Who does the narrator confess he reads his poetry to?

4. What is Eugene doing when the novel opens? How does he feel about it?

5. How do the neighbors views of Eugene's refusal of Tatyana vary from the narrator's?

6. What do Vladimir Lensky and Eugne Onegin discuss? What is their favorite topic?

7. Even while Tatyana is recovering from her rejection, how are Olga and Vladimir doing?

8. How do Tatyana's and her nurse's diagnosis of her sleeplessness and distraction differ?

9. As Tatyana waits for an answer to her letter from Eugene, what does Vladimir Lensky tell them? What affect does this have on Tatyana?

10. What is Eugene Onegin's first impression of both of the Larin sisters?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Both of Tatyana's mother and nurse were married by an arranged marriage, and in the end Tatyana herself marries a man that her parents chose. Discuss arranged marriages.

Part 1. Many cultures have histories of arranged marriages. What are their benefits and downsides?

Part 2. How did the arranged marriage work out for Tatyana's mother? Was she better off than if she had married the dandy gambler she had fancied in her youth?

Part 3. If her parents had not pressured her, Tatyana would have stayed single after Eugene rejected her. Was she better off married to the good and powerful man that she married?

Part 4. Looking at both Tatyana and her mother from a societal view instead of a personal one, are they better contributing members of society in the roles their parents have chosen for them or in the roles they would have chosen for themselves? Is this important?

Essay Topic 2

At Tatyana's name-day celebration, there is much that happens on a superficial level. Discuss the symbolism and importance of the events of the name-day celebration.

Part 1. The celebration is supposedly all about Tatyana. In actuality, how much is truly about her?

Part 2. Eugene is the only person that notices Tatyana's distress. Why does he notice and no one else?

Part 3. Why does Eugene decide to take revenge on Vladimir, and what does he do? What does he miscalculate in his actions?

Essay Topic 3

The narrator comments at one point in the novel that the heroes of novels were once consumed with a passion for the right and just, defeating vice and sin, but today novels glorify vices, and vampires and egotists become heroes.

Part 1. Pushkin wrote this comment in the early 1800s. Does it sound like something someone would say today? Where have you heard such accusations before?

Part 2. Give some examples of stories from today, that back up Pushkin's statement.

Part 3. What can be inferred from the timelessness of this statement?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,033 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample