"The Queen of Spades" analysis of the work - theme, idea, genre, plot, composition, characters, problems and other issues are disclosed in this article.

The second Boldin autumn inspired Pushkin to create several prose works. Among them - "Queen of Spades". The story with three cards became known to Alexander Sergeevich from the young Prince Golitsyn. In 1828, he told the poet about his grandmother, who in her youth shone in Parisian society and lost a lot. The famous alchemist and occultist Count Saint-Germain helped the princess by revealing to her the secret of the three cards. The woman took advantage of the forbidden information and was able to recoup. This story served as the basis for the work written by Pushkin in October - November 1833.

"The Queen of Spades" is considered to be a story. But many literary critics, including Belinsky, insisted that, due to the compactness of the narrative, one storyline, as well as a limited number of characters, this is a story.

Difficult to define and genre works. In The Queen of Spades there are elements of fantasy, characteristic signs of the Gothic style: a mystery, an old house, a fatal coincidence, a funeral, mysterious steps, a ghost. At the same time, mysticism here is subjective, if you look at events from the point of view of Hermann's obsession, which drives him to madness. After all, all fantastic fragments are described solely through his perception: the look of the deceased in the coffin, the appearance of the dead countess, the wink of the Queen of Spades. If all the mystical episodes are "written off" to the hero's morbid state, then The Queen of Spades will be a completely realistic story on the theme of "crime and punishment".

The work consists of six parts and a brief conclusion. Each part is preceded by an epigraph that helps the reader to understand the author's point of view, adjusts to a certain perception. Compositionally, the first part is the beginning of the plot, in the third part the climax comes - the scene of the death of the countess, in the sixth part there is a denouement.

In The Queen of Spades, Pushkin often uses unexpected, random turns of events that intrigue the reader and give the story a plot edge. By chance, Hermann is at the countess's house and sees Lisa. Suddenly, he hands the girl a letter. On the fateful night, Hermann goes not to Lisa, but to the Countess's chambers. The death of the old woman also becomes unexpected for the hero, as well as her mystical night visit. Hermann does not expect "betrayal" from the cherished cards, when instead of an ace a queen falls out. A brief conclusion turns out to be sudden for the reader: the hero's madness, Tomsky's marriage, Liza's marriage.

The main characters of The Queen of Spades belong to different generations and have their own status in society. The old Countess Anna Fedotovna is rich and lives in the past. She dresses old-fashioned, goes to balls, where she sits calmly in the corner and greets the guests. Her daily entertainment is to pester the poor pupil Liza with whims. Anna Fedotovna is a cold, domineering and selfish lady. Hermann's pleas and persuasions do not make any impression on her. It revives only from fear or memories.

Pushkin subtly uses historical contrast in the story: the aristocratic 18th century, where the laws of honor rule, and the 19th century, in which money already rules. Hermann is a man of a new era. The desire to get rich at any cost leads him to a tragic ending. In a conversation with Lisa, Tomsky characterizes the main character with the following words: "he has the profile of Napoleon, and the soul of Mephistopheles". Hermann himself values ​​peace and independence most of all. To do this, he needs a solid capital.

It is worth noting that Hermann is not at all poor, because he stakes 47 thousand rubles. Calculation, moderation and diligence calls the hero his own "faithful cards" who will certainly win and elevate him to the very top of the social ladder. Wanting to get rich, Hermann moves towards his goal with unbending perseverance. At heart he is a passionate player, but he handles cards with great care, terribly afraid of losing.

An unexpected opportunity to quickly achieve wealth strikes the imagination of a young engineer. From that moment on, the desire to find out the secret of the three cards becomes an obsession for him. Hermann is even ready to become the lover of an eighty-year old woman. A chance meeting with Lisa gives Hermann a different, more sure path. Playing with the girl's feelings, the military engineer does not feel the slightest remorse. He goes to the old countess with a gun, although his plans do not include the murder of the old woman. Hermann is only going to scare Anna Fedotovna. Could he kill the old woman for riches? Quite possible. Selfishness, greed, unscrupulousness in means, combined with a strong will and cold calculation, made Hermann a dangerous person.

Lisa looks like a victim of tragedy, but the poor girl is not so innocent. For the sake of money, she endures the whims of an evil old woman, and Hermann considers it from the point of view of her own benefit. Liza strives to successfully marry and dramatically increase her position in society. She is close to Hermann in spirit, and the sincerity of her feelings is in doubt. It is no coincidence that at the end of the story, Pushkin reports that a poor pupil lives in Lisa's house. Has not the prosperous Lizaveta become the same tormentor for another poor girl, as the countess was for her? Pushkin is practically sure that evil begets evil.

The Queen of Spades was published in the Library for Reading magazine in 1834 and immediately gained immense popularity. This is one of the first works of Russian literature, which was a great success in Europe. The Queen of Spades has been translated many times into foreign languages ​​by the classics of European literature. For example, the author of the French translation was Prosper Mérimée.

The plot of the work inspired Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to compose the opera. The Queen of Spades was filmed eight times, including at foreign film studios. The well-known literary critic of the early twentieth century, Mirsky, spoke about this story in the following way: “In terms of the power of imagination, it surpasses everything that Pushkin wrote in prose.”

"," A secluded "house" on Vasilyevsky" and the famous passage "Guests gathered at the dacha ...". The story has been filmed several times.

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The Queen of Spades - Alexander Pushkin (audiobook)

Pyotr Tchaikovsky. The Queen of Spades, opera in three acts - Mariinsky Theater (2015)

Peak LAMA. Alexander Pushkin

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Plot

The plot of the story beats the theme of unpredictable fate, fortune, fate, beloved by Pushkin (as well as other romantics). The young German military engineer Hermann leads a modest life and accumulates a fortune, he does not even pick up cards and is limited only to watching the game. His friend Tomsky tells the story of how his grandmother, the countess, while in Paris, lost a large sum in cards. She tried to borrow from the Count of Saint-Germain, but instead of money, he revealed to her the secret of the three winning cards. The countess, thanks to the secret, fully recouped.

Hermann, having seduced her pupil, Lisa, enters the countess's bedroom, pleas and threats trying to find out the cherished secret. Seeing Hermann armed with a pistol (which, as it turned out later, turned out to be unloaded), the countess dies of a heart attack. At the funeral, Hermann imagines that the late countess opens her eyes and casts a glance at him. In the evening, her ghost appears to Hermann and says that three cards (“three, seven, ace”) will bring him a win, but he should not bet more than one card per day. The second condition is that he must marry Liza. Hermann subsequently did not fulfill the last condition. Three cards become an obsession for Hermann:

... Seeing a young girl, he said: "How slim she is! .. A real red three." They asked him: what time is it, he answered: - five minutes to seven. - Every pot-bellied man reminded him of an ace. Three, seven, ace - pursued him in a dream, taking on all possible forms: the three bloomed in front of him in the form of a magnificent grandiflora, the seven seemed to be a Gothic gate, the ace was a huge spider. All his thoughts merged into one - to take advantage of the secret, which cost him dearly ...

The famous gambler millionaire Chekalinsky arrives in St. Petersburg. Hermann puts all his capital (47 thousand rubles) on three, wins and doubles it. The next day, he bets all his money (94 thousand rubles) on the seven, wins and doubles his capital again. On the third day, Hermann bets money (188 thousand rubles) on an ace. An ace comes up. Hermann thinks he has won, but Chekalinsky says that Lady Hermann has lost. In some incredible way, Hermann "turned around" - he put money instead of an ace on a lady. Hermann sees on the map a grinning and winking Queen of Spades, who reminds him of a countess. Ruined Hermann ends up in a hospital for the mentally ill, where he does not react to anything and every minute “mutters unusually soon: - Three, seven, ace! Three, seven, lady! .. "

Work on the story

The plot of The Queen of Spades was prompted to Pushkin by the young Prince Golitsyn, who, having lost, regained what he had lost by betting, on the advice of his grandmother, on three cards once prompted to her by Saint-Germain. This grandmother is the “mustachioed princess” N. P. Golitsyna, well-known in Moscow society, nee Chernysheva, mother of the Moscow governor D. V. Golitsyn.

1. In handwritten drafts, the hero is named Herman; perhaps the second "n" was added by the publishers under the influence of the German spelling.
2. The phrase "his name is Hermann" includes the construction "call + creation. case”, which in the Russian language of that time was used only with a name; in other works Pushkin also follows this rule.
3. Küchelbecker, who was fluent in German, in his diary calls the hero of the story Herman, that is, the presence of a double "n" did not play a decisive role for him.

Opinions and ratings

• Vladislav Khodasevich brought The Queen of Spades closer to other Pushkin's works about "the contact of the human personality with dark forces":

Before talking with the Countess, Hermann himself went towards the black power. When the countess died, he thought that his plan was crumbling, that everything was over and life would henceforth go on as before, with the same capital and untouched interest. But then the roles shifted: from the attacker he turned into the object of attack. The dead old woman appeared to him. “I came to you against my will,” she said in a firm voice, “but I was ordered to fulfill your request,” etc. cards and one, last, most important - incorrect, or at the last, decisive moment, pushed his hand and made him lose everything. Be that as it may, they raised it almost to the maximum height - and pushed it down. And in the end - the fate of Hermann is literally the same as the fate of Pavel and Eugene: he goes crazy.

• D. Mirsky singled out The Queen of Spades from Pushkin’s works as “the best and most characteristic work for him in prose”:

It is impossible to summarize it: it is a masterpiece of conciseness. Like Belkin's Tales, this is a work of pure art, entertaining only as a whole. In terms of the power of imagination, it surpasses everything that Pushkin wrote in prose: in terms of tension, it is like a compressed spring. In its violent romanticism, it is close to the "Hymn to the Plague" and to the poem "God forbid I go crazy." But the fantastic romantic plot is poured into an irreproachable classical form, so economical and compressed in its noble nakedness that even Prosper Mérimée, the most sophisticatedly economical of French writers, did not dare to translate it exactly and attached all sorts of embellishments and explanations to his French translation, thinking probably builds up meat on a dry skeleton.

Screen adaptations

• The Queen of Spades (film,  1910) - silent film
• The Queen of Spades (film,  1916) - silent film
• The Queen of Spades (film, 1922) - Hungarian film
• The Queen of Spades (film, 1937) - French film
• The Queen of Spades (film,  1960) - adaptation of the opera
• The Queen of Spades (film,  1982) - a film by Igor Maslennikov
• The Queen of Spades (film,  1987) - film-play by Pyotr Fomenko
• These ... three true cards ..., 1988 - a film by Alexander Orlov
• Queen of Spades (film, 2016) - a film by Pavel Lungin

Notes

Literature

The Queen of Spades is one of the most intriguing and adventurous works in the spirit of romanticism. Alexander Pushkin not only beautifully described the history already known to everyone, as was the case in some of his creations, but also put all the ingenuity of his literary genius into it. In addition, in the intricacies of masterfully written prose, a message that is still relevant to this day is hidden: happiness is not in money, and not even in luck. A detailed analysis of the "Queen of Spades" will help to better understand the work.

The plot of the work is borrowed from reality. The real story of the "Queen of Spades" is as follows: Pushkin's acquaintance, Prince Golitsin, an avid card player, managed to win back thanks to the advice of his grandmother, Natalya Petrovna Golitsina, who ordered him to put everything on three cards. She is the prototype of the Queen of Spades, because at one time she had an acquaintance with the magician and magician Saint-Germain. According to her, he was not indifferent to her, so he told the cherished secret. The writer himself also often tested his fortune, this can be guessed from his good understanding of card terms and the intricacies of the game.

In the process of creating The Queen of Spades, the author was in Boldin (1833), it was his most “fruitful” autumn. He worked avidly, so the book is full of extraordinary plot twists and dramatic conflicts. Of course, the love collision and moral fall of the hero are fictitious, but they convince us of the danger of playing with fate. He published the work after the link, in 1834, in the journal Library for Reading.

Genre and direction

"The Queen of Spades" is usually defined as a story. This genre implies an average volume, one main storyline and the participation of minor characters in it. Literary critics consider this book to be Pushkin's first work, opening a cycle of further reflections on human vices and the punishments that follow them.

In the analysis, it is important to take into account the realities of the cultural era when the creation was written. The direction of The Queen of Spades is romanticism, known to posterity as a period of mystical yearning for an ideal, when fictional worlds penetrated the real one, and even the most astute reader could not determine whether there was magic in reality? Or did the writer simply portray the hero's dream? So in Pushkin's book it is not clear who drove Hermann to madness: the magic of cards or an unfortunate loss? Be that as it may, the hero's craving for enrichment at any cost is ridiculed and punished, and the superiority of spiritual wealth over material wealth is glorified and extolled.

What is the piece about?

The story tells how one day, at a card game with horse guard Narumov, the grandson of the old princess Tomsky tells a joke about three cards known only to his grandmother, which will certainly win. The story makes a great impression on the young officer Hermann, who, by all means, decides to find out this card combination. He often begins to appear at the Countess's house, considering his further actions, and one day, he notices her pupil, Elizaveta Ivanovna, at the window. Hermann begins to show her signs of attention, and after some time he appoints her a nightly date in her room.

Having entered the princess's house, he tries to get a secret combination of three cards from the hostess, intimidates her with a pistol, but she dies right before his eyes, without revealing her secret. Having visited the funeral of the princess, the killer sees that she is winking at him from the coffin, and at night, either in a dream or in reality, she appears and tells him the combination - three, seven, ace. She sets conditions for him - to put no more than a card a day and marry Elizaveta Ivanovna. The hero does not fulfill the second request. Having won two wins, betting a three and a seven, for the third time, instead of an ace, the Queen of Spades winking at him appears on the table. Hermann loses money and goes crazy. The double essence of the story "The Queen of Spades" is that the reader himself chooses the meaning of the finale:

• Firstly, the princess really could have magical abilities and take revenge on the young man for disobedience.
• Secondly, the character could go crazy even at the stage of the emergence of an obsession to find out the secret, that is, further events are the consequences of his mental or mental disorder.

Main characters and their characteristics

• Hermann- a young man of pleasant appearance, having "the profile of Napoleon, and the soul of Mephistotle", a romantic by nature. Otrodu did not take cards in his hands, but he likes to watch someone else's game. He did not see the point of "sacrifice the necessary in the hope of acquiring the superfluous", he was a player only in his soul, but the secret of the three cards radically changed his worldview. If earlier he was pedantic, restrained and thrifty, then in the finale he becomes a greedy, treacherous and cruel person. Money reveals the hidden depravity of his soul, which absorbs all the good that was in the heart of the hero.
• Anna Fedotovna- an old, decrepit countess, spoiled by social life, living out her last years. Although she keeps the pupil in strictness, nevertheless, she thinks about her future. The image of the Queen of Spades, who fancied Hermann, differs from the heroine in life. She is vindictive, mysterious and categorical. A deal with her is a kind of deal with the devil, because Hermann pays for the secret with his soul, and the lady knows this. It is no coincidence that she demands from the young man to make amends with the pupil and marry her. She knows that he will not do this, because a soulless hero is not capable of honesty and nobility. This betrays in her deceit and hypocrisy inherent in otherworldly forces. The Queen of Spades is also a symbol of easy material success that makes people dizzy. He destroys humanity and virtue in them, leaving a field scorched by vices in their place.
• Elizabeth- a modest and shy young girl, a pupil of Anna Fedotovna, tortured by the constant reproaches, whims and inconstancy of the countess. She is naive and kind, looking for understanding and love in the world, but finds only deceit and cruelty. Lisa is also a romantic heroine, but her illusions fail, because reality does not show favor to everyone.
• Tomsk Prince, relative of Anna Fedotovna. He plays the role of a reasoner, it is thanks to his story that the plot of the action takes place: Hermann turns onto a crooked path and follows his desires.

Themes

1. fate and fate. A fatal set of circumstances dooms the protagonist to madness. Herman was destined to pay for the fact that he did not fulfill all the conditions of the old countess, namely, did not marry Elizaveta Ivanovna. Even if we discard mysticism, the unscrupulous, greedy pursuit of wealth could not end otherwise. The author urges not to deceive fate, because it is impossible to compete with it.
2. Mystic. At the decisive moment of the game, instead of an ace, the Queen of Spades appears among Hermann's cards. Perhaps he himself mixed up the card, being in a stressful state, but the possibility of the influence of otherworldly forces, revenge on the part of the countess, is not ruled out. By itself, a playing card with the image of the Queen of Spades in many fortune-telling portends misfortune and failure. Or, as the epigraph to the first chapter of the story says, "The Queen of Spades means secret malevolence."
3. Love. The heroine is sincerely disposed towards Hermann, but he does not appreciate the real wealth in the form of this favor. He uses the girl's love to find out the secret, and she blindly believes his hypocrisy. The theme of indifference to the people around is also manifested here: the main character is ready to go over the heads, just to achieve his goal.
4. Aims and means. Hermann goes to a positive goal in vile ways, so his work is doomed to failure. Deceiving a girl, intimidating an old woman, deceiving the whole world, he gains success, but loses himself.

Problems

• Greed. Having an insidious plan to cash in on the secret, Hermann does not bother to fulfill her posthumous request, and neglects the fact that she came to him not of her own free will, but by decree given from above. He does not regret the feelings of Elizaveta Ivanovna, who managed to trust him and be imbued with tender love messages. The main problem of the work "The Queen of Spades" lies in the prudence of the protagonist, which has a negative impact on his life.
• Hypocrisy. With his help, Hermann manages to deceive not only the gullible girl, but the whole world, which takes his success at face value. All those around him envy the player's luck, wish him defeat, but retain an air of respect and benevolence. This lie permeates the entire upper world.
• Addiction people from material goods. The hero fiercely achieves wealth for the sake of recognition of the environment, because in the world of salons and balls only money is valued. The problem is not in one person, but in a system where everything has its monetary equivalent.

the main idea

The story of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin makes you think: is dubious luck worth the unjustified risk? After all, having felt like a favorite of fortune once, a person begins to get involved in the game, it becomes difficult for him to overcome dependence on a constant feeling of excitement. But this is only one facet of the work. The idea pursued by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin is an ironic embodiment of a typical romantic hero who is not in vain a German. Romanticism comes from Germany, and the author critically assessed it. For example, he was ironic about his canons, far from real life, even in Ruslan and Lyudmila. The poet condemns the isolation of this trend from reality and the indispensable desire to put it in a bad light. First of all, he brings down criticism on the romantic hero. Accordingly, Hermann, despite the mystical bias and belief in the magic of three cards, remains an ordinary tradesman with a banal set of values. His sublimely ostentatious nature does not change for the better from magic, because he uses it for greedy purposes. That is, the main idea of ​​The Queen of Spades is that no outward romantic attributes such as mysticism, excitement and extraordinary character will help the character get rid of the hustle and bustle of the material world, but will only justify his immorality, make crime possible, because the essence of a romantic hero is opposition with society. It can easily take such a form, and this is the danger of the German cult of individualism - the belief in the superiority of the individual over society. Therefore, the finale of the book proves the opposite: society is higher than Hermann, who violated its laws. The meaning of the "Queen of Spades" is to show the inevitability of punishment for the crime committed. Having learned three cherished cards, thanks to which it was possible to multiply his fortune several times, the player could not control himself, lost his mind.

What does it teach?

After reading The Queen of Spades, the reader involuntarily thinks about the negative impact of the desire for constant profit. Huge sums of money beckon a person again and again to return to the card table. Based on the negative example of Hermann, we can conclude that you should not chase easy money, thereby tempting fate. The path to the goal, even if this goal is welfare, must be honest and worthy.

In addition, the nobility of a person is measured not by the fullness of the wallet, but by the wealth of the soul. Only the one who cultivates true virtue in himself is worthy of respect and happiness. Love, sincerity and friendship cannot be bought with a card win, whatever it may be.

Criticism

The story found positive responses among poets and literary critics, and also gained great popularity in European countries. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky spoke of the work as "perfect fantastic prose." The Russian literary scholar and literary critic Dmitry Petrovich Svyatopolk-Mirsky called The Queen of Spades "the best and most characteristic of Pushkin's work in prose for him."

Indeed, the book caused a whole wave of unexpected reactions in the society of that time. For example, under the influence of what they read, players began to bet on the three, seven and ace, and the ladies of the court occupied themselves with searching for the prototype of the mysterious Queen of Spades. Pushkin only sneered in his diary about what fashionable trend his creation gave rise to. It was not in vain that the critic Annenkov recalled the sensation that had been made as follows: “The story made a general conversation when it appeared and was re-read, from magnificent palaces to modest dwellings, with the same pleasure.”

The famous reviewer of Russian classics Belinsky also did not ignore the book and spoke flatteringly for the author:

"The Queen of Spades" is not actually a story, but a masterful story. It outlines the old countess, her pupil, their relationship and the strong, but demonically selfish character of Hermann with surprising accuracy. Actually, this is not a story, but an anecdote: for a story, the content of The Queen of Spades is too exclusive and accidental. But the story - we repeat - the height of skill.

In The Queen of Spades, the hero of the story is a truly original creation, the fruit of deep observation and knowledge of the human heart; it is furnished with faces spied on in society itself; the story is simple, distinguished by elegance ...

Interesting? Save it on your wall!

In my essay-reflection, I try to understand the heroes of A. S. Pushkin's story "The Queen of Spades", their actions, motives of behavior, to consider interesting, in my opinion, phenomena that occur at the behest of fate and the course of life.

The basis of my analysis-reasoning was the eternal problem of greed, excitement, money and lies. Working on the work, I pursued the goal of analyzing the actions of the characters, their thoughts and feelings, explaining to the reader the phenomena, mysterious and fantastic.

In my report, the most, in my opinion, the most interesting and exciting problems for the reader, which are still relevant today, such as: fleeting love, the ghost of an old woman, the loss of the main character, despite knowing the secret of three cards, etc.

I undertook to analyze this particular work, without referring to any critical sources, because I want to better understand the actions of the characters, the essence of the story "The Queen of Spades". Pushkin created something that is filled with irony, hard truth and at the same time a dark mystery; it is very difficult to solve it, but I had a wonderful opportunity to try to do it myself and present my work to your judgment.

Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin is a writer and poet who shook the world of literature with his genius and superiority. We know many works by Pushkin, after reading which we are delighted. Getting acquainted with the work of a man who devoted his life to literature, we believe that Pushkin gave us more than just works, he gave us a huge world and its mirror image, not embellished, but truthful. We can look at our lives from the outside, understand the mistakes we make, see their absurdity, and sometimes stupidity, and enjoy the most wonderful feelings that people can only experience.

Pushkin's work is varied. Even in the lyceum lyrics, along with following the tradition of classicism, the original Pushkin line is clearly defined. The main thing for him is to sing of human feelings and passions in their vital diversity. Alexander Sergeevich is inherent in a realistic aspiration. One of the greatest achievements of Pushkin, his fundamental principle is the image of a person's personality in inseparable connection with the social environment, the image of a person's personality in the process of its development, depending on the social, social conditions of life. Pushkin shows that in his realistic works the line of poetic expression is clearly revealed - socio-historical, concrete everyday content, characteristics of social phenomena. This trend is manifested in the work "The Queen of Spades".

Here, along with the socio-historical story, Pushkin cultivates the socio-psychological novel. Social saturation in the work "The Queen of Spades" is combined with psychological sharpness and tension, dramatic power in the development of the action. The desire for expressiveness of psychological experiences, deployed on the basis of the disclosure of a large socio-historical, philosophical problem, determines the creation of a special type of work, in which the hero with his experiences is put forward to the most important place. Such a work is The Queen of Spades. Let's leaf through this story together and try to understand all its splendor and beauty.

Heroes and their deeds. Life and destiny.

Three, seven, ace.

The main character of the work is Hermann - a young officer "engineer", the central character of the socio-philosophical story. First of all, he is prudent, reasonable; this is also emphasized by his German origin. Each of the heroes of this story is associated with a specific topic: For example, Tomsky - with the theme of undeserved happiness.

Tomsky Pavel Alexandrovich - a young prince, grandson of an old countess; at first it seems to be a minor figure, someone like the player Narumov, who "mediates" between the main character

Hermann and the world of card players. The plot role of Tomsky is really insignificant. However, by linking the image of Tomsky with the idea of ​​undeserved good fortune, Pushkin hastens to complicate the problem. The social structure of life is such that random success is too natural, almost automatically drops out for some and bypasses others. Tomsky, unlike Hermann, belongs to the well-born, and not to the service nobility; from birth he is built into the aristocratic ranks, into the endless series of “lucky ones”. The mysterious connection of the Tomsky clan with good luck is emphasized by the inexplicable "increase" of his class status in comparison with his grandmother: she is a countess, he is a prince. For what exceptional merits Tomsky's father could be granted a new "title" is not said. This was done, obviously, because there were no "merits". Tomsky is "promoted" one step up metaphysically, not socially. In addition, by chance or not, Pushkin three times “by mistake” calls the countess herself a princess; if this is done consciously, then with one goal: to completely "confuse the cards", to separate the theme of social luck from any rational basis.

Tomsky appears in the first chapter only to tell the gambling community a story about three cards, the secret of which was revealed to his grandmother Saint-Germain (a famous adventurer of the eighteenth century) and which she, having recouped, only once entrusted to a certain Chaplitsky. In the second chapter, Tomsky appears in the grandmother's house - and again, only so that the poor pupil Lizaveta Ivanovna "could" let slip about the military engineer who interested her.

Lizaveta Ivanovna is connected with the theme of social humility. The image of a young girl is placed in the plot ring; from beginning to end, her life turns around an axis; the social scenario remains the same - only the performers of the roles change; people move from one "cell" to another - like cards on a playing table. Whether there is a pattern in this movement, a foregone conclusion - is not completely clear; the contrasting example of the "unfortunate" Hermann and the "happy" Tomsky confirms this, the example of Lizaveta Ivanovna partly denies it. By her position in the world, she could not hope for a happy marriage; her personal fate is atypical and unpredictable in advance. This is all the more noticeable, the more typical and predictable the life "model" itself, which Lizaveta Ivanovna reproduces in her future fate: a rich mistress and a poor relative. Her position in the big world is pitiful; she is not taken out to the society of "equals"; the old woman is selfish and does not arrange Lisa's marriage.

The old countess is connected with the theme of fate. Anna Fedotovna - an eighty-year old woman, in whose house a poor relative Lizaveta Ivanovna is brought up; countess-keeper of the secret of the "three cards"; personification of fate. For the first time she appears before the reader in the form of a young imperious beauty, in the haze of the legendary "joke" of sixty years ago, behind which, according to Nashchokin, is the legend of the "real" adventure of Princess Natalia Petrovna Golitsyna, who "revealed" to her grandson the secret of three cards, once told to her by Sen - Germain.

In his work, Pushkin vividly describes Petersburg - the capital of the empire, the breed of a ghostly absurd life, a city of fantastic events, incidents, ideals, a city that dehumanizes people, disfiguring their feelings, desires, thoughts, their lives.

Hermann first appears on the pages of the story in an episode with the horse guard Narumov - but, sitting up to 5 in the morning in the company of players, he never plays - "I am not able to sacrifice the necessary, hoping to acquire the superfluous." Ambition, strong passions, fiery imagination are suppressed in him by firmness of will.

After listening to Tomsky's story about three cards, the secret of which was revealed to his grandmother Countess Anna Fedotovna 60 years ago by the legendary visionary

Saint Germain, he exclaims: not "Chance", but "Fairy Tale!" - because it excludes the possibility of irrational success.

Herman is a passionate man obsessed with the idea of ​​wealth. On his way, he stops at nothing. Ready to play with other people's feelings, charms Lisa, a girl who lives in the house of an old countess, in order to master the secret of "three cards", which guarantees him a big win. And this is true, because Hermann at first wanted to achieve wealth in an honest way, but as soon as he found out about the secret of the three cards, he became a completely different person. He began to pursue this secret, he was ready to ""sell"" his soul to the devil. The thought of money eclipsed the mind of this man.

The life and consciousness of Hermann instantly and completely obey the mysterious game of numbers, the meaning of which the reader does not understand for the time being. Pondering how to take possession of the secret, Hermann is ready to become the lover of the eighty-year-old countess - for she will die in a week; the gain may triple, sevenfold his capital; 2 days later he appears for the first time under Lisa's windows; 7 days later she smiles at him for the first time. Even the surname Hermann now sounds like a strange, German echo of the French name Saint-Germain, from which the countess received the secret of the three cards. Hermann appeared near the countess's house, simply wandering the streets of St. Petersburg, twice in a row, as if some kind of force led him to this place. It can hardly be argued that the mysterious appearance of Hermann at the house of an old woman who knew the secret of the three cards was an accident. With such an irresistible desire of the “wily fate” to bring our hero to this house, Pushkin, in my opinion, pursued the goal of showing the triumph of Hermann’s subconscious, which sought to bring his master closer to a possible place for the realization of his obsession, over his mind.

It is easy to see that the main character of the work does not have a name (or maybe a surname). Let's prove that "Hermann" is a surname. Let "Hermann" be the name. But in this case, contradictions arise: firstly, in the word "Herman", denoting the name, there is only one letter "H", in contrast to the one written by Pushkin; secondly, based on the dialogues, we can conclude that the cavaliers use a person's surname when they address each other or talk about someone in the third person: Why did Pushkin deprive his “prudent German” of a name? It can be assumed that the author did this without any subtext: Chaplitsky, Narumov, Chekalinsky, by analogy. But this reason is hardly true, since the named characters play episodic roles, while Hermann is the main character.

It seems to me that Pushkin denied his hero a name, pursuing the goal of emphasizing the mystery associated with the hero: at heart a passionate player, a man with the "profile of Napoleon" and the "soul of Mephistopheles", Hermann never played and did not show secular activity at all. The only occupation due to gambling nature was his constant stay near the card table as an observer of the game.

Having obtained her consent to a meeting (which means receiving a detailed plan of the house and advice on how to get into it), Hermann sneaks into the countess's office, waits for her to return from the ball - and, frightening half to death, tries to find out the coveted secret.

"He turned to stone, like a dead statue."

Realizing that the countess is dead, Hermann sneaks into Lizaveta Ivanovna's room - not in order to repent before her, but in order to untie the knot of a love story that is no longer needed.

But still, did Hermann love Lisa?

I don't think he loved. Although he may have been in love with her for a while, there is no need to talk about a long and passionate love. I'll try to prove it. Hermann writes declarations of love to Lisa, simply copied from German novels, since the pupil of the countess does not know German. But suddenly he did it not on the principle of “just how, just to achieve an “audience” of the countess”, but only because he was a layman in love affairs: he could not imagine the methods of meeting girls different from those described in novels. This argument is persuasive. Indeed, many people first read about love, and only then establish relationships with their lovers, and in these cases, if a person does not have eloquence and similar emotional traits, their dates become very similar to scenes from read novels. But one can pay attention to Hermann's selflessness, referring to the fact that the hero froze outside in the cold just to see Lizaveta's face. Everything is so, but this does not deny that Hermann stood in the cold not from love for the girl, but from love for the secret of the countess.

After the death of the old woman, our hero somehow carelessly tells the former pupil of the deceased the terrible news, without trying in any way to protect her from this news, to console her. But in contrast to this, the following can be stated: firstly, Lisa was a domestic prisoner with the old countess and the death of the old woman would have freed the pupil from this torment; secondly, Hermann can be justified by the fact that he himself was in a pre-shock state and could not adequately analyze the situation. But I want to remind you that Lizaveta lived at the expense of the countess and was financially dependent on her. So the score is equal. The imaginary opponent answered all my arguments with his counterarguments. So what - the argument is lost? I hope no. I still have one more fact in reserve: after Hermann found out the secret of the three cards, he stopped seeing Lisa, stopped thinking about her. And already sitting in the Obukhov hospital, he completely forgot about her. Here one can object that, they say, he was not up to it, and in general he went crazy - but this only emphasizes the statement: With the development of insanity, Hermann spilled out what had occupied his imagination in the previous time. As you can see, this set entirely consisted of the thought of cards: “Three, seven, ace!” three, seven, lady!. ”, and there is not even a hint of “former” love.

But the following hypothesis also has the right to exist. Perhaps Hermann did not initially think of using Lisa as an unwitting assistant for a personal acquaintance with the countess. Hermann's possible love for Lizaveta Ivanovna does not in the least contradict his main goal, so it is possible that two "love" stories developed in parallel: between Hermann and the mystery and Hermann and Lisa.

But behind Hermann's reflections on love, real or absent, for Liza, the no less interesting question of Lizaveta Ivanovna's feelings for the hero was completely lost. I dare say that there was no love here either. Lisa, “a stranger among her own” at balls and terrorized at home by the countess, fell in love with the first young man who paid attention to her. Just as quickly, she “left” her recent chosen one, seeing in him previously unnoticed negative, in her opinion, features. In my opinion, if she really loved Hermann, then at least their separation would be more romantic.

Twice during one chapter (IV), the author leads the reader to compare the cold Hermann with Napoleon, who for the people of the first half of the 19th century. embodied the idea of ​​romantic fearlessness in a game with fate? First, Lisa recalls a conversation with Tomsky (Hermann has a “truly romantic face” - “the profile of Napoleon, and the soul of Mephistopheles”), then follows a description of Hermann sitting on the window with folded arms and surprisingly resembling a portrait of Napoleon. First of all, Pushkin, in my opinion, depicts a new, bourgeois world. Although all the passions, the symbols of which are the cards in the story, have remained the same, but evil has lost its "heroic" appearance. Napoleon longed for glory - and boldly went to fight with the whole universe; Hermann craves money - and wants to shortchange his fate with banknotes that flooded his mind. Napoleon wanted to bend the whole world to his feet, while the "current" Mephistopheles is only capable of intimidating the old countess to death with an unloaded pistol. Funny, but true. The comparison of Napoleon with Hermann is due to the stinginess of the protagonist's fantasy and the inability to intimidate exquisitely, subsequently to kill defenseless old women.

In the episode of Hermann's "date" with the countess, who returned at two in the morning from the ball, she will repeatedly move from the area of ​​\u200b\u200bdeath to the space of life and back. At first, the yellowness of her face, the “other-worldliness” of her appearance (she sits, “moving her pendulous lips, swaying right and left”) themselves suggest the effect of “hidden galvanism”. That is, about the demonic revival of the dead body of Moscow Venus. However, at the sight of Hermann, "her dead face changed inexplicably"; she seemed to be back on this side of the border between life and death. And then it turns out that this

Only two senses have "animating" power over it: fear and remembrance. Hermann's semi-delusional proposals and requests do not make any impression on her, for her fear has subsided, only the name of the late Chaplitsky brings her out of her dead indifference. However, the author's remark about the "strong movement of the soul" that occurred in her is obviously ambiguous: therefore, this is the movement of the soul leaving the body. The old countess again plunges into "intermediate" insensibility, only to fall out of it into death as soon as Hermann aims his unloaded pistol.

He decides to ask her for forgiveness - but even here he will act for reasons of moral gain, and not from moral principles proper. The deceased may have a harmful influence on his life - and it is better to mentally repent before her in order to get rid of this influence.

But just as during her lifetime the countess was involved in death, so after her death she is not going to leave the limits of life.

During the funeral, the following happened. “At that moment it seemed to him that the dead woman looked at him mockingly, screwing up one eye. Hermann hurriedly leaning back, stumbled and fell backwards on the ground. He was raised. At the same time, Lizaveta Ivanovna was carried out in a swoon to the porch" - no doubt, such a thing could happen at the funeral, but Pushkin, in my opinion, introduces this element into the work in order to emphasize the indefinite, nervous atmosphere that reigned in the souls of Lisa and, in particular, Hermann.

Describing the funeral service, the narrator, who usually uses words sparingly, emphasizes that Anna Fedorovna lay in the coffin "with folded hands" - although she could not lie in any other way; but on the night of the countess's death, Hermann and Lizaveta Ivanovna also sat opposite each other, arms folded - he proudly, in a Napoleonic way, she humbly, like Mary Magdalene. The hands of the old countess folded crosswise are not a sign of pride and not a sign of humility, it is not even just a sign of death (as soon as Hermann approaches the body of the “deceased”, the old woman squints mockingly with one eye). Her cross-folded hands are a sign of a new "genre registration". She appeared before the reader in the role of the young heroine of a historical anecdote told by Tomsky; in the form of a motionless portrait; she was a decrepit character in a social story about a poor pupil. Now she, who during her lifetime preferred old French novels, “wherever the hero crushes neither father nor mother, and wherever there are drowned bodies,” she will have to become like the “dead” heroes of “horror novels” and Russian ballads, who loved to appear so much. world of the living in the funeral image of the dead.

And here the author, who consistently changes the literary residence of his hero (in the first chapter he is a potential character in an adventure novel; in the second, the hero of a fantastic story; in the third, the protagonist of a social and everyday story, the plot of which gradually returns to its adventure origins), again sharply "switches" the tone of the story.

The rhetorical clichés from the memorial sermon of the young bishop are themselves superimposed on the events of the terrible night. In Hermann, this “angel of death” and “midnight groom”, parodic features suddenly appear; his image continues to flicker, to decline; it seems to melt before the eyes of the reader. And even the “revenge” of the dead old woman, which plunges the hero into a swoon, is able to make the reader smile: she “mockingly looked at him, narrowing her eyes with one eye.”

A historical anecdote about three cards, a detailed description of everyday life, fantasy - everything gets confused, covered with a scratched helmet of irony and ambiguity, so that neither the hero nor the reader can make out: is the dead old woman, shuffling her slippers, all in white, really appears to Hermann that night ? Or is it a consequence of nervous exhaustion and drinking wine? What are the three cards named by her -

“Three, seven, ace” - the otherworldly secret of numbers that Hermann has been subject to from the moment he decided to take possession of the secret of the cards, or a simple progression that Hermann himself deduced a long time ago “I will triple, I will triple the capital. "(that is, I will become an ace). And what explains the promise of the dead countess to forgive her unwitting murderer if he marries a poor pupil, whom she did not care about during her lifetime? Is it because the old woman was forced to “be kinder” by an unknown force that sent her to Hermann, or because in his sick mind all the same echoes of conscience sound that once woke up in him at the sound of Liza’s steps? Without noticing it himself, Hermann ended up in an "intermediate" space, where the laws of reason no longer apply, he is on his way to insanity. Hermann, who valued precisely independence, even if it was material, for the sake of it and who entered into a game with fate, completely loses independence. He is ready to repeat

"Parisian" episode of the life of the old countess and go to play in Paris.

Arguing over the work, I would like to ask the question: “Why is the story called “The Queen of Spades”, and not “Life and Fate”, or even better “Three, Seven, Ace” or maybe “Idle Shot”, as he was going to call his story? In my opinion, the title of the work “The Queen of Spades” characterizes death, but not of a person, but the death of aspiration, the confidence of the protagonist, personifying the deafening crash of loss. It is this card that displays the chuckling face of the old countess, because the Queen of Spades for Hermann was fatal.

As you know, the secret of the three cards was told to the Countess Saint-Germain. But how did he know this secret? Let's discuss. Perhaps Hermann's assumption about the diabolical pact was correct. The events of the work do not contradict this hypothesis, which gives the right to consider it a possible reality. This assumption can be developed in two directions. Following the first, Saint Germain made a deal with the Devil and then “out of the kindness of his heart (he had already sold his soul)” presented this secret to the countess. Another version is that the contract with the chairman of the opposition to God was concluded by the countess herself, and Saint-Germain was only a "gift of fate" sent by the Devil. This version, in my opinion, is more plausible, since when considering the countess as a bunch of dark forces, many points related to the secret of the cards are quite simply explained, which can be attributed to manifestations of the will of the ruler of the Underworld. A hint expressed in Hermann's speech to the countess: “Perhaps the secret is associated with a terrible sin, with the destruction of eternal bliss, with a diabolical contract. Think: you are old; you won’t live long - I’m ready to take your sin on my soul ”gives the right to assume that the countess sold her soul to the Devil and became the bearer of a terrible secret.

In the scenes of the "duel" with Chekalinsky, the reader is presented with the former Hermann - cold and all the more prudent.

Hermann lost despite knowing the secret of the three cards. The following possible reasons for this can be cited. Firstly, from the fact that the countess sold her soul to the devil, it can follow that she, helping her new master, the Devil, called Hermann deliberately wrong cards in order to get his soul without paying for it. This version is also confirmed by the fact that the countess came to Hermann "to fulfill his request" "not of her own free will."

Secondly, sharing a secret with the hero, she made a reservation: “so that you marry my pupil Lizaveta Ivanovna. ". Hermann, on the other hand, had no intention of marrying Lisa. Because of this, the countess, who gained the ability to examine the souls of people, punished our hero. Thirdly, it is possible that in such a very peculiar way God tried to save Hermann's soul from falling into his opponent, quickly taking it to himself (this method is somewhat reminiscent of the betrayal of Christ by Judas, who, in my opinion, tried in the most sure way to protect his teacher from pseudo-loving people).

The mechanism of such a strange error can be as follows. Firstly, Hermann could be nervous and simply mix up the cards. But this version is unlikely. Secondly, the map already set aside by Hermann could be replaced by "dark forces". And the third, most technically difficult version is the following one. These "dark forces" somehow acted on Hermann in such a way that he saw the lady as an ace. And only after the talya was lost, and the Devil did his dirty work, our hero saw the mistake that cost him so dearly.

Another scenario could be the following. There was something that could somehow affect people's lives. It was this Something that "made happy" the secret of Saint-Germain, the Countess and Chaplitsky. When this Something found out about the possibility that someone else (in this case, Hermann) would learn the secret, it decided that enough people had already become rich thanks to this and changed the conditions for drawing cards. It informed the Countess of the change, but did not explain the new rules. When the owner of the secret told Hermann about her, she was not quite sure of the correct tactics, but, succumbing to persuasion on the verge of our hero's threats, she changed the rules at random. Apparently, she did not guess. This version is supported by the fact that the countess and Chaplitsky put cards one after another, while Hermann was told: “Three, seven and ace will win you in a row, but so that you don’t put more than one card per day and so that he would not play for the rest of his life.

A natural question arises: why, in fact, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin undertook to write such a peculiar work?

Let's try to answer this question. It should be noted right away that The Queen of Spades was written in 1833, that is, no longer a young writer. Perhaps this work was a continuation of the study of human behavior under the influence of external factors. The Queen of Spades is interesting from the point of view of the variety of storylines and problems, no less complex, reflected in the work. In "Eugene Onegin" the author kills Lensky, motivating this by the predetermined fate of the hero. Why, then, does he leave Hermann alive? Perhaps, already working on the work, Pushkin himself became interested in a not entirely ordinary character and decided to follow his fate.

True, it is also possible that the "Queen of Spades" was a kind of cry from the poet's soul. Now it is no secret to anyone that Pushkin himself was a gambler (this explains such an accurate, detailed description of the game itself). It could happen that the author himself at that time lost a large sum and decided to create a work that reflects the vicissitudes of card life.

If I'm not mistaken, The Queen of Spades was the first work in Russian literature that so vividly illuminated the problems of the relationship between passion, money, love, social life.

III. Conclusion

"The folk trail will not overgrow to it."

Pushkin's work "The Queen of Spades" is filled with irony and at the same time seriousness, it is written with elements of fantasy, but at certain moments the story is believable. "The Queen of Spades" includes the contradictions of circumstances and events, characters and feelings. This work is a contrast filled with a picturesque, unique way of conveying reality to the reader. In his story, Pushkin focused on the deepest psychological analysis of the human soul, completely seized by some kind of selfish passion, be it stinginess, envy or pride. These passions subjugate strong and strong-willed people, but they are selfish in nature and therefore lead them to moral degradation and crime. "The Queen of Spades" by Pushkin captivates with the purity and depth of the experienced feelings.

Gogol said about Pushkin and his stories: “Alexander Sergeevich was national at the very beginning, because true nationality does not consist in the description of a sundress, but in the very spirit of the people. A writer, perhaps, is national when he describes a completely foreign world, but he looks at it through the eyes of his national element, through the eyes of his people, when he feels and speaks in such a way that his compatriots think that they themselves say and feel it. It is hardly possible to say about any of the writers that he has as much greatness, simplicity and strength in his short story as Pushkin. »

In my opinion, reading The Queen of Spades should have a strong effect on the upbringing, development and formation of an elegantly psychological feeling in a person.

Yes! It will not be said out of anger to our literary Old Believers, our dry moralists, our callous, anti-aesthetic reasoners, no one, absolutely no Russian writer has acquired such an indisputable right to be an educator of both the young and the mature, and even the old (if they still have a grain of aesthetic and human feeling) of readers, like Pushkin, because we do not know in Russia more moral, with great talent, like this writer.

"The Queen of Spades" is a story whose main task is to reach out to our mind in order to curb the dashing horses of our desire for excitement and money. In general, everything written by Pushkin looks not only capacious, meaningful, but also unusually elegant. Try to swap a few words on any of the pages of The Queen of Spades - and you will understand that in Pushkin's prose the words are in the only correct order.

When we say that Pushkin is outdated, we are mistaken. Read the wonderful works of this beautiful, find close and understandable to you. I always return to the work of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. I believe that "the folk path will not overgrow" to it. I think that for my age there will be enough food for the soul and mind in abundance. With this I finish my work, in the hope that I managed to convey to you a piece of the semantic reflection of the truth in Pushkin's story "The Queen of Spades".

It was written by Pushkin in 1833. The writing of this story was preceded by the story of Prince Golitsyn about his grandmother. In her youth, the famous warlock Count Saint-Germain (aka Count Cagliostro, whom A. Dumas later talked about in his novels) opened 3 cards to her, which had to be bet on in order to win.

The mysticism in The Queen of Spades was relative. This style of writing his stories was also used by Gogol in the cycle "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka", and other writers of that time, when mystical elements were attributed to the inflamed imagination of the hero, his drunken state, or dreams.

The story begins with a card game played by Naumov, a horse guard. At the end of the game, a certain Tomsky told those present about his grandmother, who knew the same Count Saint-Germain. Friends laughed, not taking this story seriously, but Hermann, who was present during the game, took the story to heart. This is a young man, with a rather unstable psyche, who took his poverty hard. He lived on a salary and couldn't afford to play. But some secret dreams kept him in the company of players. It can be assumed that he, watching the players, did the analysis and dreamed of unraveling the arithmetic of the game.

Tomsky, one of the participants in the game and the grandson of the old countess, rather aptly described Hermann to Lizaveta Ivanovna, noting: “This Hermann is a truly romantic face: he has the profile of Napoleon, and the soul of Mephistopheles.” Still, he is not devoid of intelligence and common sense. Calculation, moderation and diligence helped him put together a small capital, which he put on the line.

In the second chapter, Pushkin introduces the reader to the countess - not essentially evil, but a capricious and absurd old woman. Older people often become like this in their declining years. Despite her age, she goes to balls, hosts all the secular society of St. Petersburg, and dresses in the old fashion adopted in her youth.

Some critics, denying the mystical element of the content of the story, compare it with Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. Hermann was obsessed with the desire to get rich, like Raskolnikov, but he did not intend to kill anyone. After hearing in the circle of friends, he seemed to be pushed to commit this act. At first, he "accidentally" ended up near the countess's house, then he saw the girl's head in the window, bent over a book or embroidery. And this prompted him to take further action.

The young engineer needed to get into the house in order to talk with the old countess, and he began to attract the attention of the pupil of the old countess, Lisa. Hermann's ploy succeeded and Lisa wrote to the young man when and how he could enter the house.

He begged the old countess to show him three cards, but the countess replied that it was a joke, and such cards do not exist. An attempt to scare the old woman led to the fact that she died.

Three days after the incident, Herman woke up at night from an incomprehensible rustle. And I saw a woman in white. She called him the cards.

Hermann took part in the card games of rich players in Moscow. The first 2 times he won safely, and the third time the queen of spades was at stake instead of the ace, and Hermann lost everything he had. This incident strongly affected his imagination, and he went mad.

The following mystical elements are used in the story:

• the mention of the Count of Saint-Germain, about whom legends circulated in those years;
• during parting in the church, Hermann saw the old woman wink at him;
• at night, the countess came to Hermann herself and named three mysterious cards.

The fact that instead of an ace on the card table there was a queen of spades is due to the self-confidence of a player who, through an oversight, ponted the wrong card.

In a short conclusion, Pushkin shows how the life of the main characters of the story developed. Hermann ended up in a psychiatric hospital, Tomsky married his Polina and was promoted, and Lisa married a respectable young man.

With its mysterious plot, the story continues to attract the attention of readers. It was repeatedly filmed, translated into various languages, including French.