Oblomov, Part Two, Chapter 6
Everything about Olga matched this ideal to perfection and the two images merged into a single whole.
A love story. Oblomov declared his love to Olga and now he’s regretting it. He doesn’t seem to have a filter; now he’s panicking. On the one hand, he wants to go back to how things were before, with him in his dressing gown and having lazy, meaningless days; and on the other, there’s passion. It’s like a heart and a head thing, with the heart pretty much taking over.
His ideal life is one with a wife, children and a house in the country, but with a peaceful and serene heart, not one beset with passion and and turmoil. That would mean suffering. But the passion of his love for Olga overwhelms him and he finds himself yearning to see her.
This passage explains his turmoil:
The misfortune no less! There you are, living your … best? life, serene and peaceful, when along comes passion to put you off your game.
Ilya being Ilya, he can’t help himself from telling Olga how he’s feeling. He’s a heart-on-the-sleeve kind of guy:
He then goes on, somewhat awkwardly, to explain away his declaration of love, finally telling her to “forget it, especially since it wasn’t true…”
Oh, Ilya, what have you done? You’re just making things worse! At this outburst, Olga dashes the sprig of lilac she’s picked to the ground.
And now Olga’s feeling put out and angry, even though this is what she thought she wanted.
“My God!” she thought. “Now everything’s back to normal; it’s as if the whole thing had never happened, thank God! But why do I feel like this?”
And now they’re both feeling awkward and full of regret. First Ilya regrets his declaration of love, and now he’s regretting having taken it back. It’s a very delicate scene and the way Goncharov has written it is just wonderful. You can feel these two characters’ turmoil, and so when it’s resolved, it feels joyful not only to them, but also to the reader—at least to this reader anyway. You can sense that Ilya will be skipping home after they part. Will Olga be skipping too? What do you think?
Video Review
Questions
Does this vivid scene of awkward declarations of love and take-backs and the ultimate resolution remind you of your own life?
Can you see this relationship being a stable one as it develops?