Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin is the greatest Russian classic who presented the world with such literary creations as Eugene Onegin and Ruslan and Lyudmila. There is also the famous story "Queen of Spades", which formed the basis of many adaptations and was translated into different languages of the world.
Consider below the main characters of the work, the analysis of The Queen of Spades, a brief summary of the chapters and more.
History of creation
Pushkin wrote The Queen of Spades, using as a basis the story of the acquaintance of Prince Golitsyn. His grandmother, the famous princess, told him three cards, once prophesied to her by one person, which would bring a win in the game. Thus, the prince was able to regain his lost state.
Alexander Sergeevich wrote the book in 1833, and in 1834 it was already published. In the genre of "Queen of Spades" is more likely to refer to realism with notes of mysticism.
main characters
There are several main characters in the story.
Hermann is the protagonist of The Queen of Spades, around which the plot of the work revolves. He is a military engineer and the son of a German. He has dark eyes and pale skin. As Hermann himself says, his most important qualities are prudence, moderation and hard work. He is also very thrifty 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 purposes, Hermann uses Lisa and the Countess, he does not mind them at all.
Countess (Anna Fedotovna Tomskaya) is an eighty-seven year old woman. She has a selfish character, and she, like in her youth, still gives balls and arranges evenings. Adheres to the fashion of ancient years. Outwardly, she has already become very flabby and old. But once was a maid of honor under the emperor. I got used to secular society, which made her arrogant and spoiled. She has a pupil Lisa, whom she tyrannies in every possible way, and many servants who quietly rob her.
According to legend, this old countess holds the secret of the three cards that Saint-Germain once revealed to her. Once it helped her to win back a major loss. She keeps this secret secret from everyone, even from her four sons. But once she told only Chaplitsky, which brought him luck.
Lizaveta Ivanovna - the main character, a pupil of old Anna Fedotovna. She is a young and very cute girl with dark eyes and black hair. The character is very modest and lonely, she has no friends, resignedly endures the countess. Lisa falls in love with Hermann, while he decided to use her to become closer to the old woman who owns the secret of winning.
Also in the story are minor characters: Paul Tomsky (the grandson of the decanter), who told the legend of his grandmother, Chekalinsky and Narumov.
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 there was a secular evening at Narumov. Some guests played cards for money, and 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 his entire small fortune.
Paul, the grandson of old Anna Fedotovna, wondered why his grandmother wasn’t playing. Once upon a time, 60 years ago, she lost a great fortune. But her husband refused to help her, and then she decided to borrow a small amount from Saint-Germain. He didn’t give her money, but he revealed the secret that if three specific cards go sequentially after each other, then luck will wait. And indeed, Anna then won.
Few of those present believed this legend about the old decanter. But not Hermann. With his characteristic ambition, he decided to forget about all caution and by all means to find out this secret, which she did not reveal to anyone in order to win.
Chapter 2. Introducing
Here on the pages of the story Lisa first appears - 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 raving about the mystery of the cards, appeared under the windows of the Countess’s house several days after the evening at Naumov’s. This went on for several nights. Hermann decided by all means and by any means to approach Anna Fedotovna. But Lizaveta remained outwardly adamant and only a week later smiled back.
Chapter 3. The death of the countess
Not getting 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 a secret date. Lisa 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 the closet in Anna Fedotovna’s room to wait for her to return. But when she arrived, Hermann began to ask her for the secret of three cards. She categorically refused to say anything. The young man began to threaten with a pistol, and the keeper of secrets suddenly died from fright.
Chapter 4. Betrayal
All this time, Lisa was waiting for her fan in the room. He came and admitted that he was guilty of the death of the countess. And then the girl realized: Hermann simply used it.
Chapter 5. Meeting with the ghost
Three days later, the deceased countess was buried in a monastery, where the perpetrator of death himself appeared. It even seemed to him near the coffin, as if the old woman looked at him with a grin.
Then there were mystical events: at night they knocked on Hermann. She was a countess in white robes. She came to tell the secret of the cards. To win, it is necessary to consistently not more than once a day put three, seven and ace, but never play in her life, and she also told him to marry Lizaveta.
Chapter 6. Losing
Wasting no time, Hermann decided to play with Chekalinsky, who had recently arrived in St. Petersburg, known for playing well. He completely forgot about the second condition - to marry Lisa.
At first he put 47 thousand on the top three, and in a day, also a large sum - on the top seven. And now, another day later, instead of an ace, Hermann came across a queen of spades, and he noticed that she seemed to grin at him, like a dead countess. He lost everything.
After the incident, Hermann went crazy and went to a psychiatric hospital, and Lisa married a wealthy man.
Analysis
The Queen of Spades is a story that can be thought about for a very long time. Here you can highlight several basic ideas. Someone will think when reading this book that evil begets evil, self-interest and ambition should be punished. And someone will see only mysticism without any philosophy.
Also, when analyzing The Queen of Spades, one cannot say exactly which 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 Alexander Pushkin does not mention ghosts, fate, or foresight anywhere in direct text. Who knows, maybe after the death the countess simply dreamed of Hermann, and that revealed secret of the cards was 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 his subjective look.
But here the author accurately and completely revealed all the characters in such a small format of a book of only 6 chapters. Hermann creates a very ambiguous image in the story "Queen of Spades." He is the main character, but according to his actions, according to his descriptions, we easily understand what he is: ambitious, firm, ready to use other people for his own benefit.
This man believed so strongly in the secret of the cards, he was so determined to win a very large sum, that he forgot about the countess’s second punishment - to marry Lisa. We can say that Hermann turned out to be weak, because he only thought about money, and when everything went completely wrong according to the plan (so expected and desired, but, alas, unreliable), he simply went crazy.
Other heroes of The Queen of Spades are also very brightly revealed. The countess, who owns the secret, is selfish, as can be seen in her attitude to the pupil, but not evil by nature. And Lisa 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 vivid 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 a pupil of such a wayward countess, she suffers her because of convenience: a comfortable life in a big house, the absence of 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 Sergeyevich Pushkin "Queen of Spades" is one of the few Russian-language works of the time, which 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 also many adaptations of The Queen of Spades were shot, the analysis of which is also very interesting to do.
Dmitry Mirsky very accurately called the book a masterpiece of contraction. This short story touches on a lot of topics and problems. 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.