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. Real story 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 made 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 at the horse guard Narumov, the grandson of the old princess Tomsky tells a joke about three cards ah, known only to his grandmother, who are sure to 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 powers and take revenge on the young man for his 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 young man to make amends to 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 her own 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 wealth. 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 originality of 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 - 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 negative impact desire for permanent gain. 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 critic 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 court ladies occupied themselves with searching for the prototype of the mysterious Queen of Spades. Pushkin only ironically in his diary over what fashion trend gave birth to his creation. It was not in vain that the critic Annenkov recalled the furor that had been made as follows: “The story made a general conversation when it appeared and was re-read, from magnificent halls 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. In it, the old countess, her pupil, their relationship and the strong, but demonically selfish character of Hermann are surprisingly correctly outlined. 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 ...

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So, the action is transferred to the age of Catherine II. Main character not at all like its prototype. This is an enthusiastic romantic, endowed with a sublime soul. He idolizes Lisa, his "beauty goddess", not daring to kiss her footprint. All his ariosos of the first act are passionate declarations of love. The desire to get rich is not a goal, but a means to overcome the social abyss separating them from Lisa (after all, Lisa in the opera is not a hanger-on, but the rich granddaughter of the Countess). "Three cards to know - and I'm rich," he exclaims, "and with her I can run away from people." This idea takes possession of him more and more, displacing love for Liza. The tragedy of Herman's spiritual struggle is exacerbated by his collision with the formidable power of fate. The embodiment of this power is the Countess. The hero dies, and yet love triumphs in Tchaikovsky's music: at the end of the opera, the bright theme of love sounds like a hymn to its beauty, to the mighty impulse of the human soul towards light, joy and happiness. Herman's dying appeal to Lisa, as it were, expiates his guilt and inspires hope for the salvation of his rebellious soul. The young German military engineer Hermann leads a modest life and accumulates a fortune, he does not even take cards and is limited only to watching the game. His friend Tomsky tells a story about how his grandmother, the countess, while in Paris, lost a large amount of cards on her word. She tried to borrow from the Comte Saint-Germain,
but instead of money, he revealed to her a secret about how to guess three cards at once in a game. The countess, thanks to the secret, fully recouped.

Natalya Petrovna Golitsyna - prototype of the Countess from The Queen of Spades

Hermann, having seduced her pupil, Lisa, enters the countess's bedroom and, with pleas and threats, tries to find out the cherished secret. Seeing an unloaded pistol in his hands, 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. Three cards become an obsession for Hermann:

The famous gambler, millionaire Chekalinsky, comes to Moscow. Hermann bets all his capital on a triple, wins and doubles it. The next day, he bets all his money on the seven, wins and again doubles the capital. On the third day, Hermann bets money (already about two hundred thousand) on an ace, but a queen falls out. Hermann sees on the map a grinning and winking Queen of Spades, who reminds him countess. Ruined Hermann ends up in a mental hospital, where he does not react to anything and every minute “mumbles unusually quickly: - Three, seven, ace! Three, seven, lady! .. "

Prince Yeletsky (from the opera The Queen of Spades)
I love you, I love you beyond measure,

I can't imagine living a day without you.

And a feat of unparalleled strength

Ready to do for you now

Ah, I am tormented by this distance,

I sympathize with you with all my heart,

I mourn your sadness

And I cry with your tears ...

I sympathize with you with all my heart!

The seventh picture begins with everyday episodes: the drinking song of the guests, the frivolous song of Tomsky “If only dear girls” (to the words of G. R. Derzhavin). With the advent of Herman, the music becomes nervously excited.
Anxiously alert septet "Something's wrong here" conveys the excitement that gripped the players. Rapture of victory and cruel joy are heard in Herman's aria “What is our life? A game!". In the dying moment, his thoughts are again turned to Lisa - a quiveringly tender image of love arises in the orchestra.

German (from the opera The Queen of Spades)

That our life is a game

Good and evil, one dream.

Labor, honesty, fairy tales for women,

Who is right, who is happy here, friends,

Today you and tomorrow me.

So stop fighting

Seize the moment of good luck

Let the loser cry

Let the loser cry

Cursing, cursing your fate.

That's right - death is one,

Like the shore of the sea of ​​vanity.

She is a refuge for all of us,

Who is dearer to her from us, friends,

Today you and tomorrow me.

So stop fighting

Seize the moment of good luck

Let the loser cry

Let the loser cry

Cursing your fate.

Chorus of guests and players (from the opera The Queen of Spades)

Youth doesn't last forever

Let's drink and have fun!

Let's play with life!
Old age is not long to wait!
Youth doesn't last forever
Old age is not long to wait!
We don't have to wait long.
Old age is not long to wait!

Not long to wait.
Let our youth drown
In bliss, cards and wine!
Let our youth drown
In bliss, cards and wine!

They have one joy in the world,
Life will run like a dream!
Youth doesn't last forever
Old age is not long to wait!
We don't have to wait long.
Old age is not long to wait!
Not long to wait.
Lisa and Polina (from the opera The Queen of Spades)

Lisa's room. Door to the balcony overlooking the garden.

The second picture is divided into two halves - everyday and love-lyrical. The idyllic duet of Polina and Lisa "It's already evening" is covered with light sadness. Polina's romance "Dear Friends" sounds gloomy and doomed. The live dance song “Come on, Light-Mashenka” serves as a contrast to it. The second half of the picture opens with Lisa's arioso "Where do these tears come from" - a penetrating monologue full of deep feelings. Liza's melancholy is replaced by an enthusiastic confession "Oh, listen, night."

Liza at the harpsichord. Near her Polina; friends are here. Liza and Polina sing an idyllic duet to the words of Zhukovsky ("It's evening ... the edges of the clouds have faded"). Friends express their delight. Lisa asks Polina to sing one. Polina sings. Her romance "Dear Friends" sounds gloomy and doomed. It seems to resurrect the good old days - it is not for nothing that the accompaniment in it sounds on the harpsichord. Here the librettist used Batyushkov's poem. It formulates an idea that was first expressed in the 17th century in the Latin phrase, which then became winged: "Et in Arcadia ego", meaning: "And in Arcadia (that is, in paradise) I (death) is";

Clouds faded edge,

The last ray of dawn on the towers is dying;

The last shining stream in the river

With the extinct sky fading away,

Fading away.
Prilepa (from the opera The Queen of Spades)
My pretty little friend

Dear shepherd,

Who do I sigh

And I want to open the passion

Oh, I didn't come to dance.
Milovzor (from the opera The Queen of Spades)
I'm here, but boring, languid,

Look how thin you are!

I won't be humble anymore

I hid my passion for a long time.

No more humble

He hid his passion for a long time.

Herman's tenderly sad and passionate arioso "Forgive me, heavenly creature" is interrupted by the appearance of the Countess: the music takes on a tragic tone; there are sharp, nervous rhythms, ominous orchestral colors. The second picture ends with the affirmation of the light theme of love. In the third picture (second act), scenes of life in the capital become the background of the developing drama. The initial choir, in the spirit of the welcoming cantatas of the Catherine era, is a kind of screen saver for the picture. Prince Yeletsky's aria "I love you" describes his nobility and restraint. Pastoral "Sincerity
shepherdesses" - a stylization of music of the 18th century; elegant, graceful songs and dances frame the idyllic love duet of Prilepa and Milovzor.

Forgive heavenly creature

That I disturbed your peace.

Forgive me, but do not reject a passionate confession,

Do not reject with sadness ...

Oh sorry, I'm dying

I bring my prayer to you

Look from the heights of heavenly paradise

To the mortal fight

Soul tormented by torment

Love for you ... In the finale, at the moment of the meeting between Lisa and Herman, a distorted melody of love sounds in the orchestra: a turning point has come in Herman's mind, from now on he is guided not by love, but by the haunting thought of three cards. fourth picture,
central in the opera, full of anxiety and drama. It begins with an orchestral introduction, in which the intonations of Herman's love confessions are guessed. The choir of hangers-on (“Our Benefactor”) and the song of the Countess (a melody from Gretry's opera “Richard the Lionheart”) are replaced by music of an ominously hidden character. She is contrasted with Herman's passionate arioso "If you ever knew the feeling of love"

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.

... Being firmly convinced of the need to strengthen his independence, Hermann did not even touch the interest, he lived on his salary, did not allow himself the slightest whim. However, he was secretive and ambitious, and his comrades rarely had the opportunity to laugh at his excessive frugality ...

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.

This idea took possession of the poor German.

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 Lisa.

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 - haunted 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 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. The ruined Hermann ends up in a hospital for the mentally ill, where he does not react to anything and every minute mumbles unusually quickly: - Three, seven, ace! Three, seven, lady! ..».

So Hermann is a man who, being "unable to sacrifice the necessary in the hope of gaining the superfluous", succumbed to destructive passion and in the pursuit of wealth lost his mind.

THE QUEEN OF SPADES

(Tale, 1833; published 1834)

Hermann- a young officer (“engineer”), the central character of a socio-philosophical story, each of the heroes of which is associated with a specific topic (Tomsky - with the theme of undeserved happiness; Lizaveta Ivanovna - with the theme of social humility; the old countess - with the theme of fate) and is endowed with one its defining and unchanging trait. G. - first of all prudent, reasonable; this is emphasized both by his German origin, and by his surname (the reader does not know his name), and even by the military specialty of an engineer.

G. 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, in the hope of acquiring 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 60 years ago to his grandmother Countess Anna Fedotovna by the legendary visionary Saint Germain, he exclaims: not "A chance", but "A fairy tale!" - because it excludes the possibility of irrational success.

Further, the reader sees G. standing in front of the windows of the poor pupil of the old countess, Lisa; his appearance is romantic: a beaver collar covers his face, his black eyes sparkle, a quick blush flares up on his pale cheeks. However, G. is not a gallant character in the old French novel that the countess reads, not the fatal hero of the Gothic novel (which the countess denounces), not the protagonist of the boringly peaceful Russian novel (brought to her by Tomsky), not even the “literary relative” of Erast from Karamzin’s story "Poor Lisa". (The connection with this story is indicated not only by the name of the poor pupil, but also by the “foreign” vowel of the name of her “seducer.”) G. is rather the hero of a German petty-bourgeois novel, from which he borrows word and word his first letter to Lisa; this is the hero of the novel by calculation. He needs Liza only as an obedient tool for the implementation of a well-thought-out plan - to master the secret of the three cards.

There is no contradiction here with Narumov's scene; a man of the bourgeois era, G. did not change, did not recognize the omnipotence of fate and the triumph of chance (on which any game of chance is built - especially the pharaoh, which the countess played 60 years ago). Simply, after listening to the continuation of the story (about the deceased Chaplitsky, to whom Anna Fedotovna revealed the secret), G. was convinced of the effectiveness of the secret. This is logical; a one-time success can be random; the repetition of chance indicates the possibility of its transformation into a regularity; and the regularity can be "calculated", rationalized, used. Until now, his three trump cards were - calculation, moderation and accuracy; from now on, mystery and adventurism paradoxically combined with the same calculation, with the same bourgeois thirst for money.

And here G. miscalculates in a terrible way. As soon as he set out to master the law of chance, to subordinate the mystery to his own goals, the mystery itself immediately took possession of him. This dependence, the "bondage" of the actions and thoughts of the hero (which he himself almost does not notice) begins to manifest itself immediately - and in everything.

Upon returning from Narumov, he has a dream about a game in which gold and banknotes are, as it were, demonized; then, already in reality, an unknown force brings him to the house of the old countess. The life and consciousness of G. 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, G. is ready to become the lover of the eighty-year-old countess - for she will die in a week (i.e., after 7 days) or in 2 days (i.e., on the 3rd); the gain may triple, sevenfold his capital; after 2 days (i.e., again on the 3rd) he appears for the first time under Lisa's windows; after 7 days, she smiles at him for the first time - and so on. Even the surname G. now sounds like a strange, German echo French name Saint Germain, from whom the countess received the secret of the three cards.

But, barely hinting at the mysterious circumstances that his hero becomes a slave to, the author again focuses the reader's attention on the reasonableness, prudence, and planning of G.; he thinks through everything, right down to Lizaveta Ivanovna's reaction to his love letters. Having obtained from her consent to a meeting (which means having received a detailed plan of the house and advice on how to get into it), G. 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. The arguments that he brings in his favor are extremely diverse; from the proposal "to make up the happiness of my life" to reasoning about the benefits of thrift; from the readiness to take the Countess's sin upon one's soul, even if it is connected "with the ruin of eternal bliss, with the devil's pact" to the promise to honor Anna Fedotovna "as a shrine" from generation to generation. (This is a paraphrase of the liturgical prayer “The Lord shall reign forever, your God, Zion, generation and generation.”) G. agrees to everything, because he does not believe in anything: neither in the “destruction of eternal bliss”, nor in the shrine; these are only incantatory formulas, "sacred-legal" conditions of a possible contract. Even "something resembling remorse" that echoed in his heart when he heard the steps of Lisa, deceived by him, is no longer able to awaken in him; he became petrified, like a dead statue.

Realizing that the countess is dead, G. sneaks into Lizaveta Ivanovna's room - not in order to repent before her, but in order to dot the "and"; to untie the knot of a love plot, which is no longer needed, “... all this was not love! Money - that's what his soul yearned for! A harsh soul, - Pushkin clarifies. Why, then, twice during one chapter (IV) does the author lead the reader to compare the cold G. 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 (G. has a “truly romantic face” - “the profile of Napoleon, and the soul of Mephistopheles”), then follows a description of G. sitting on the window with folded arms and surprisingly reminiscent of a portrait of Napoleon ...

First of all, Pushkin (as later on Gogol) depicts a new, bourgeois world that has been reduced to pieces. Although all the passions, the symbols of which are the cards in the story, remained the same, but evil lost its “heroic” appearance, changed its scale. Napoleon longed for glory - and boldly went to fight with the whole universe; the modern "Napoleon", G. craves money - and wants to book his fate. The "former" Mephistopheles threw the whole world at the feet of Faust; The "current" Me-fisto is only capable of frightening the old countess to death with an unloaded pistol (and the modern Faust from Pushkin's ♦ Scenes from Faust, 1826, with which the Queen of Spades is associated, is mortally bored). From here it is a stone's throw to the "Napoleonism" of Rodion Raskolnikov, united with the image of G. by ties of literary kinship ("Crime and Punishment" by F. M. Dostoevsky); Raskolnikov, for the sake of an idea, will sacrifice an old pawnbroker (the same personification of fate as an old countess) and her innocent sister Lizaveta Ivanovna (the name of a poor pupil). However, the opposite is also true: the evil was reduced, but remained the same evil; The “Napoleonic” posture of G., the posture of the master of fate, who suffered a defeat, but did not reconcile with him - crossed arms - indicates a proud contempt for the world, which is emphasized by the “parallel” with Liza, sitting opposite and humbly folding her hands in a cross.

However, the voice of conscience will speak again in G. - three days after the fateful night, during the funeral service for the unwittingly murdered old woman. He decides to ask her for forgiveness - but even here he will act for reasons of moral gain, and not for purely moral reasons. 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.

And here is the author, who consistently changes the literary registration of his hero (in the first chapter he is a potential character in an adventure novel; in the second, he is the hero of a fantastic story in the spirit of E.-T.-A. Hoffmann; in the third, he is the protagonist of a social and everyday story, the plot of which gradually returns to its adventurous origins), again sharply “switches” the tone of the narration. Rhetorical clichés from the memorial sermon of the young bishop (“the angel of death found her<...>awake in good thoughts and in anticipation of the midnight bridegroom") are themselves superimposed on the events of the terrible night. In G., this “angel of death” and “midnight groom”, parodic features suddenly appear; his image continues to shrink, 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 veil of irony and ambiguity, so that neither the hero nor the reader is able to make out: is the dead old woman, shuffling her slippers, all in white, really G. the same night? Or is it a consequence of a nervous paroxysm and drunk wine? What are the three cards she called - “three, seven, ace” - the otherworldly secret of numbers to which G. is subject from the moment he decided to take possession of the secret of the cards, or a simple progression that G. long ago deduced for himself ( “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 G., 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? There are no and cannot be answers to these questions; Without noticing it himself, G. found himself in an “intermediate” space, where the laws of reason no longer operate, and the power of the irrational principle is not yet omnipotent; he is on his way to madness.

The idea of ​​three cards finally takes possession of him; he compares a slender girl with a red troika; when asked about time, he answers “5 minutes to seven”. A pot-bellied man seems to him an ace, and an ace is a spider in a dream - this image of dubious eternity in the form of a spider weaving its web will also be picked up by Dostoevsky in Crime and Punishment (Svidrigailov). G., who so valued precisely independence, even material, for the sake of it and entered into a game with fate, completely loses independence. He is ready to completely repeat the "Parisian" episode of the life of the old countess and go to play in Paris. But here the famous player Chekalinsky appears from the "irrational" Moscow and starts a real "irregular" game in the "regular" capital. The very case, which G. intended to exclude from his regular, planned life, saves him from "troubles" and decides his fate.

In the scenes of the “duel” with Chekalinsky (whose last name rhymes in consonance with the last name of Chaplitsky), the reader is presented with the former G. - cold and all the more prudent, the less predictable the game of pharaoh is. (The player puts a card, the punter who holds the bank, throws the deck to the right and left; the card may coincide with the one chosen by the player at the beginning of the game and not match; it is obviously impossible to predict winning or losing; any maneuvers of the player that do not depend on his mind and will are excluded.) G. does not seem to notice that in the image of Chekalinsky, on whose full fresh face an eternal icy smile plays, he is opposed by fate itself; G. is calm, because he is sure that he has mastered the law of chance. And he, oddly enough, is right: the old woman did not deceive; all three cards win night after night. It's just that G. himself accidentally turned around, that is, instead of an ace, he put the queen of spades. The regularity of the mystery is fully confirmed, but the omnipotence of chance is confirmed in the same way. G.’s tripled, seven-fold capital (94,000) goes to the “ace”—Chekalinsky; G. gets queen of spades, which, of course, immediately repeats the "gesture" of the dead old woman. - she "squinted her eyes and grinned."

"The Queen of Spades" was created, obviously, the second Boldin autumn, in parallel with the "Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish" and the "Petersburg story" "The Bronze Horseman". Naturally, the image of G. comes into contact with their central characters. Like the old countess, he wants to put fate at his service - and in the end, too, suffers a crushing defeat. Like poor Eugene, he rebels against the "natural" order social life- and goes crazy too. (That is, he loses Reason - that “tool” with which he was going to master the Law of Fate.) From the Conclusion to the story, the reader learns that the failed conqueror of the other world, the bourgeois Napoleon, who reduced Mephistopheles, is sitting in the 17th number (ace + seven) Obukhov hospital and very quickly mutters: “Three, seven, ace! Three, seven, lady!

The reader gets acquainted with Hermann in the first chapter, which tells about card game young people. Friends pay attention to the fact that Hermann never plays, although he spends a lot of time in the company of players, watching the game for hours. He himself admits: "The game occupies me greatly, but I am not able to sacrifice the necessary, in the hope of acquiring the superfluous."

It can be assumed that by observing the manipulations of the players, Hermann is trying to unravel the algorithm of the game. He looks at the game not as a pleasure and entertainment, but as an opportunity to increase his income. He wants to be sure.

And then, as if the devil decided to intervene in the development of events. Tomsky, one of the players, talks about his grandmother. Many years ago, a certain French sorcerer and fortuneteller, Count Saint-Germain, opened three cards to a young Russian countess that would help her return the lost money.

Hermann was a passionate and enthusiastic nature. But frugality and frugality turned out to be stronger than his passions, which burned from the inside. He got excited about the idea of ​​finding out the three cherished cards of the old countess. This idea completely captured the young man. He had a small capital left by his father, but he did not touch this money, he lived modestly on his salary. And friends who preferred to live for their own pleasure often laughed at the rationality of the Russified German.

One day, walking along a St. Petersburg street, our hero drew attention to an old house. From the watchman, he learned that the same countess, Tomsky's grandmother, lives in the house. That evening he wandered around the house for a long time, imagining how he would question the countess and learn from her three cherished cards. In one of the windows he saw a young girl. And then a plan ripened in his head, not very beautiful and not worthy of a decent person.

Hermann decided to seduce the girl so that she would let him into the house. He still vaguely imagined what would happen and how, but he hung around for hours near the windows of the Countess' pupil, Lisa, trying to attract her attention. And finally, I decided to write a note. He showed perseverance and perseverance. He wrote letters to Lisa one after another, until finally Lisa agreed to let him into her room.

But Hermann was not interested in Lisa. In the evening he waited for the countess to return and went into her room. They had an obsession. At first he tried to persuade the countess, to which the old woman tried to explain that there were no maps, no Saint Germain. It's just a beautiful legend. But the young man was no longer ready to retreat, he began to threaten with a pistol. Weak heart old woman couldn't take it and she died. The image of Hermann created by Pushkin in The Queen of Spades is very unusual. And the characteristic given to him by Tomsky at the ball, where Lisa went with the countess that evening, is interesting: “This Hermann is a truly romantic face: he has the profile of Napoleon, and the soul of Mephistopheles. I think that on his conscience, at least three atrocities. With this phrase, Tomsky, without suspecting it, turned out to be a seer. That night Hermann committed three of his atrocities. He turned the head of a young lady, entered a strange house and caused the death of the countess.

If we consider the work as realistic, we can assume that Hermann's clouding of reason began on the evening when the countess died. The fear that he experienced at the sight of the dead countess became the trigger for the development of the disease. He did not get what he wanted, and it affected him so strongly that it led to a clouding of his mind. The appearance of the dead countess can be explained as a hallucination of an inflamed brain.

After he ponted the queen of spades instead of the ace during the game, he was so depressed and confused that he could not control himself. The disease began to progress at an inexorable pace. As a real event, this work may be of interest to psychiatrists.

But there is another aspect. This work can be considered as mystical-romantic. And in this form, it looks more attractive and mysterious. Hermann tried to invade other world, and was severely punished for this by the loss of reason.