The story of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin "The Queen of Spades": analysis, main characters, theme, summary by chapter

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin is the greatest Russian classic who gave the world such literary creations as "Eugene Onegin" and "Ruslan and Lyudmila". There is also the famous story "The Queen of Spades", which formed the basis of many adaptations and was translated into different languages of the world.

Let's consider below the main characters of the work, the analysis of the "Queen of Spades", a summary of the chapters and not only.

History of Creation

Pushkin wrote the "Queen of Spades" based on the story of his friend Prince Golitsyn. His grandmother, a famous princess, suggested to him three cards, once prophesied to her by one person, which would bring winnings in the game. Thus, the prince was able to regain his lost fortune.

Alexander Sergeevich wrote the book in 1833, and in 1834 it was already published. According to the genre, "The Queen of Spades" is more of a realism with hints of mysticism.

Main characters

There are several main characters in the story.

Hermann is the main character of the "Queen of Spades", around whom the plot of the work revolves. He is a military engineer and the son of a German. He has dark eyes and pale skin. Howsays Hermann himself, his most important qualities are prudence, moderation and diligence. He is also very frugal and secretive.

From the story it is known that the main character has a small inheritance and not much money. His main dream is to get rich. For this, he is ready for anything. For his own purposes, Hermann uses Lisa and the Countess, he does not feel sorry for them at all.

The Countess (Anna Fedotovna Tomskaya) is an eighty-seven-year-old old woman. She has a selfish character, and, as in her youth, she still gives balls and arranges evenings. Adheres to the fashion of old. Outwardly, she has already become very flabby and old. But once she was a maid of honor under the emperor. Accustomed to secular society, which made her arrogant and spoiled. She has a pupil, Liza, whom she tyrannizes in every possible way, and many servants who quietly rob her.

According to legend, this old countess owns the secret of the three cards, once revealed to her by Saint-Germain. Once it helped her win back a big loss. She keeps this secret from everyone, even from her four sons. But once she told only Chaplitsky, which brought him good luck.

Lizaveta Ivanovna - the main character, a pupil of the old Anna Fedotovna. She is a young and very sweet girl with dark eyes and black hair. By nature, she is very modest and lonely, she has no girlfriends, meekly endures the countess. Lisa falls in love with Hermann, while he decided to use her to get closer to the old woman who holds the secret of winning.

Also, minor characters appear in the story: Paul Tomsky (grandson of the countess), whotold the legend of his grandmother, Chekalinsky and Narumov.

And now let's look at the chapter summary below. There are only six of them in The Queen of Spades.

Chapter 1. At the ball

Once a secular evening was held at Narumov's. Some of the guests played cards for money, while Hermann watched what was happening. Everyone was surprised at his indifference, but the son of a Russified German explained this by saying that he did not want to sacrifice money in the hope of winning when there was a risk of losing all his small fortune.

Paul, the grandson of old Anna Fedotovna, wondered why his grandmother didn't play. Once upon a time, 60 years ago, she lost a large fortune. But her husband refused to help her, and then she decided to borrow a small amount from Saint-Germain. He did not give her money, but revealed the secret that if three certain cards go consecutively one after the other, then luck will await. And indeed, Anna then won.

Few of those present believed this legend about the old countess. But not Hermann. He, with his usual ambition, decided to forget about all caution and by all means find out this secret, which she did not reveal to anyone, in order to win.

Chapter 2. Acquaintance

Here Liza appears on the pages of the story for the first time - a poor and modest pupil of the selfish and old Anna Fedotovna. The entire second chapter is devoted to the acquaintance of Hermann and this girl.

The engineer, who began to rave about the secret of the cards, appeared under the windows of the countess's house a few days after the evening at Naumov's. So it went onseveral nights. Hermann decided to approach Anna Fedotovna with all his might and by any means. But Lizaveta remained outwardly adamant and smiled back only a week later.

Chapter 3. Death of the Countess

Unable to get close to the secrets of the three cards, Hermann decided to write a letter to Lisa with a love confession. She answered him. Hermann continued to be persistent and wrote letters to her every day. Finally, he was able to get her to secretly meet. Liza wrote to him how he could sneak into the house while the old countess was at the ball.

And he really went inside and hid in Anna Fedotovna's office to wait for her return. But when she arrived, Hermann began to beg her for the secret of the three cards. She categorically refused to say anything. The young man began to threaten with a gun, and the keeper of the secret suddenly died of fright.

Chapter 4. Betrayal

All this time, Lisa was waiting for her suitor in the room. He came and confessed that he was responsible for the death of the countess. And then the girl realized: Hermann just used her.

Chapter 5 Encounter with a Ghost

Three days later, the deceased countess was buried in the monastery, where the culprit of death himself appeared. Even near the coffin, it seemed to him that the old woman looked at him with a smile.

Then mystical events took place: at night there was a knock on Hermann. It was the countess in white robes. She came to tell the secret of the cards. To win, you must consistently bet three, seven and ace no more than once a day, but morenever play in his life, and also she told him to marry Lizaveta.

Chapter 6. Losing

Wasting no time, Hermann decided to play Chekalinsky, who recently arrived in St. Petersburg and is known for playing well. He completely forgot about the second condition - to marry Lisa.

At first he bet 47 thousand on a triple, a day later he also bet a large amount - on a seven. And now, after another day, Hermann came across the queen of spades instead of the ace, and he noticed that she seemed to smile at him, like a dead countess. He lost everything.

After what happened, Hermann went crazy and ended up in a psychiatric hospital, and Lisa married a we althy man.

Analysis

The Queen of Spades is a story that can be pondered over for a very long time. There are a few key ideas here. Someone will think, reading this book, that evil breeds evil, self-interest and ambition should be punished. And someone will see only mysticism without any philosophy.

Also, when analyzing The Queen of Spades, it is impossible to say exactly what genre the story belongs to. Here there is mysticism, and philosophy, and even Gothic, as certain attributes are mentioned in the form of an old house, secrets, strange dreams. The presence of mysticism is also debatable, since nowhere in direct text Alexander Pushkin mentions ghosts, fate, foresight. Who knows, maybe the countess after her death just dreamed of Hermann, and that revealed secret of the cards is just a coincidence? The protagonist sees strange fantastic things in the form of a look of a dead countess and her appearance only through the prism of hissubjective view.

But here the author accurately and completely revealed all the characters in such a small book format of only 6 chapters. Hermann creates a very ambiguous image in the story "The Queen of Spades". He is the main character, but from his actions, from his descriptions, we can easily understand what he is: ambitious, firm, ready to use other people for his own benefit.

This man believed in the secret of the cards so strongly, he was so determined to win a very large amount, that he forgot about the second punishment of the Countess - to marry Liza. We can say that Hermann turned out to be weak, because he thought only about money, and when everything did not go according to plan (so expected and desired, but, alas, unreliable), he simply went crazy.

Other characters of the "Queen of Spades" are also very brightly revealed. The Countess, who owns the secret, is selfish, as can be seen from her attitude towards the pupil, but not evil by nature. And Liza herself is patient and modest.

It may well be that the author draws a parallel with the people of that time, but of different generations. Hermann is a bright representative of young people who seek to enrich themselves in an easy way and even take unjustified risks. Lisa is also not as innocent as it seems at first glance. Being the pupil of such a wayward countess, she tolerates it because of the convenience: a comfortable life in a large house, no extreme needs, there is always food and warmth. And her main desire is to marry a rich man.

Alexander Pushkin reveals the theme of The Queen of Spades through numerous unexpected turns of events. Such as, for example, the sudden death of the countess or the loss of Hermann.

Instead of a conclusion

The story of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin "The Queen of Spades" is one of the few Russian-language works of that time that was a great success throughout Europe. This popularity has not subsided to this day. The well-known composer Tchaikovsky created an opera based on the book, and many adaptations of The Queen of Spades were made, which are also very interesting to analyze.

Dmitry Mirsky very accurately called the book a masterpiece of conciseness. In this short story, a lot of topics and problems are touched upon. The essence of the "Queen of Spades" is ambiguous, and the plot is simple. No wonder it has become a classic of Russian literature, which today is thoroughly studied in literature classes at school.