Eugene Onegin: Chapter 6 Summary & Analysis

Eugene feels pleased with himself at how he got “revenge” on Lensky by dancing with Olga. Olga, however, now can’t stop thinking about Eugene. The evening ends and everyone goes to bed. Everything in the house is still, although Tatyana is lying awake, disturbed by Eugene’s sudden reappearance and wondering what to make of his dancing with Olga. She wonders whether it would be better to die, since Eugene can’t give her the happiness she needs to stay alive.

The narrator wants to introduce a new character: Zaretsky, who is known as a rowdy gambler but who is also Lensky’s faithful friend. Zaretsky is an expert with a pistol and also a clever talker, although he often gets too drunk for his own good. Eugene knows and likes Zaretsky, and he’s surprised when, the morning after the party, Zaretsky shows up to see him. Zaretsky solemnly hands Eugene a note calling him out to a duel with Lensky. Eugene accepts, and Zaretsky returns to Lensky to deliver the news.

Eugene realizes that he was wrong to take Lensky and Olga’s relationship so lightly, and he doesn’t blame Lensky for being angry. Meanwhile, Lensky waits impatiently for Zaretsky to return with the news. He goes to see Olga and is surprised to see that she is acting as carefree as always, as if nothing has changed. He finds all of his jealousy and anger going away, even though a part of him still suspects that Olga loves Eugene more than she loves Lensky. He doesn’t tell Olga about his feud with Eugene, but he still makes plans to go ahead with the duel, to make sure that Olga isn’t “corrupted” by Eugene’s false promises. Tatyana, meanwhile, can sense that something is wrong between Eugene and Lensky, but she doesn’t know how serious it is.

That evening, Olga and Lensky play the clavichord together, but she can tell something is preoccupying him. He refuses to tell her what’s on his mind, then goes home to inspect his pistols for the duel the next day. He writes a poem about the uncertainty he feels as he prepares to face Eugene in a duel, lamenting what a good friend Eugene used to be. When he finishes, he’s exhausted and sleeps until it’s time to go to the duel.

Eugene sleeps deeply the night before the duel. He wakes up late the following morning and has to get dressed quickly. He rides off to the appointed meeting spot, where Lensky and Zaretsky are already waiting. Zaretsky asks Eugene why he showed up without a second. Eugene says that Guillot, his French valet who brought him to the duel, will act as his second. The two duelists prepare to fight.

The narrator laments at how fate has turned the former friends Eugene and Lensky into enemies. The men load their pistols, and Zaretsky measures out the distance of 30 paces for the duel. He leads each duelist to where he should stand. The duel begins, and each man is hesitant to aim and fire at first. Eventually, Eugene aims and fires first.

Lensky drops his pistol and has a look of shock on his face. Eugene is also shocked and runs to Lensky calling out his name, but he doesn’t respond. Lensky is dead and lies still with blood flowing out of him. The narrator remarks that it’s a lot more satisfying to kill an enemy at a distance than to see what one has done up close. It’s even worse if one kills a young friend over one night’s rash decision. Zaretsky confirms that Lensky is dead, and Eugene rides off in a hurry back home.

The narrator notes how tragic it is that Lensky died so young. He wonders whether Lensky may have gone on to achieve some sort of fame, perhaps as a poet, if he’d lived longer, but now that will never happen. Or maybe Lensky was fated to give up poetry and live a quiet life as a married man, being happy but cuckolded, eating too much, getting gout at age 40, and eventually passing away in his bed surrounded by children.

In the future, people will eventually come by the inscription on Lensky’s grave and perhaps be moved for a moment or two. The narrator wants to tell what became of Eugene, but he says that he is getting tired for the moment and needs a rest. The narrator regrets that he has entered the “afternoon” of life and no longer has the youthful vigor that he used to.