ACT ONE
Scene one
Petersburg. There are a lot of people walking in the Summer Garden, children playing under the supervision of nannies and governesses. Surin and Chekalinsky talk about their friend German: he spends all night long, gloomy and silent, in a gambling house, but does not touch the cards. Count Tomsky is also surprised by Herman’s strange behavior. Herman reveals a secret to him: he is passionately in love with a beautiful stranger, but she is rich, noble, and cannot belong to him. Prince Yeletsky joins his friends. He announces his upcoming marriage. Accompanied by the old Countess, Lisa approaches, in whom Herman recognizes his chosen one; in despair, he becomes convinced that Lisa is Yeletsky’s fiancée.
At the sight of the gloomy figure of Herman, his gaze blazing with passion, ominous forebodings overwhelm the Countess and Lisa. Tomsky dispels the painful numbness. He tells a secular joke about the Countess. In her youth, she once lost her entire fortune in Paris. At the cost of a love date, the young beauty learned the secret of the three cards and, betting on them, returned her loss. Surin and Chekalinsky decide to play a joke on German - they invite him to learn the secret of the three cards from the old woman. But Herman’s thoughts are absorbed in Lisa. A thunderstorm begins. In a violent outburst of passion, Herman vows to achieve Lisa’s love or die.
Scene two
Lisa's room. It's getting dark. The girls entertain their saddened friend with a Russian dance. Left alone, Lisa tells the night that she loves Herman. Suddenly Herman appears on the balcony. He passionately confesses his love to Lisa. A knock on the door interrupts the date. The old Countess enters. Hiding on the balcony, Herman remembers the secret of the three cards. After the Countess leaves, the thirst for life and love awakens in him with renewed vigor. Lisa is overwhelmed by the response.
ACT TWO
Scene three
A ball in the house of a rich metropolitan dignitary. A royal person arrives at the ball. Everyone greets the empress with enthusiasm. Prince Yeletsky, alarmed by the bride’s coldness, assures her of his love and devotion.
Herman is among the guests. The disguised Chekalinsky and Surin continue to make fun of their friend; their mysterious whispers about magic cards have a depressing effect on his frustrated imagination. The performance begins - the pastoral “The Sincerity of the Shepherdess”. At the end of the performance, Herman runs into the old Countess; again the thought of the wealth that three cards promise takes possession of Herman. Having received the keys to the secret door from Lisa, he decides to find out the secret from the old woman.
Scene four
Night. The Countess's empty bedroom. Herman enters; he peers with excitement at the portrait of the Countess in her youth, but, hearing approaching steps, hides. The Countess returns, accompanied by her hangers-on. Dissatisfied with the ball, she indulges in memories of the past and falls asleep. Suddenly Herman appears in front of her. He begs to reveal the secret of the three cards. The Countess is silent in horror. Enraged Herman threatens with a pistol; the frightened old woman falls dead. Herman is in despair. Close to madness, he does not hear the reproaches of Lisa, who came running in response to the noise. Only one thought dominates him: the Countess is dead, and he has not learned the secret.
ACT THREE
Scene five
Herman's room in the barracks. Late evening. Herman rereads Lisa’s letter: she asks him to come at midnight for a date. Herman again relives what happened, and pictures of the death and funeral of the old woman arise in his imagination. In the howling of the wind he hears funeral singing. Herman is terrified. He wants to run, but he sees the ghost of the Countess. She tells him the treasured cards: “Three, seven and ace.” Herman repeats them as if in delirium.
Scene six
Winter groove. Here Lisa must meet with Herman. She wants to believe that her beloved is not guilty of the death of the Countess. The tower clock strikes midnight. Lisa is losing her last hope. Herman arrives very late: neither Lisa nor her love no longer exists for him. In his distraught brain there is only one picture: a gambling house where he will get riches.
In a fit of madness, he pushes Lisa away from him and shouts: “To the gambling house!” - runs away.
Lisa throws herself into the river in despair.
Scene seven
Gambling house hall. Herman puts two cards, called Countess, one after another, and wins. Everyone is stunned. Intoxicated with victory, Herman puts all the winnings on the line. Prince Yeletsky accepts Herman's challenge. Herman announces an ace, but... instead of an ace, he has the queen of spades in his hands. In a frenzy, he looks at the map, in it he imagines the devilish grin of the old Countess. In a fit of madness, he commits suicide. At the last minute, a bright image of Lisa appears in Herman’s mind. With her name on his lips he dies.
Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin is one of the greatest Russian writers. His stories are studied by schoolchildren and students to this day.
Using the summary presented below, you can learn about the history of the creation of the work “The Queen of Spades”, the main characters and the plot of the book. This will be useful for retelling in class or creating a reading diary.
The story “The Queen of Spades” - description and history of creation
First, let’s figure out what year the work “Pikovaya dama” was written. The author wrote his brainchild in 1833, and the very next year after writing, in 1834, it was published. The text was created over five years.
Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin (1799-1837)
Pushkin took as a basis the life of Prince Golitsyn, his story about how his grandmother showed him three cards with which he could get his money back.
The story was published in the Reading Library. Readers rated the work well, but were still skeptical about it because of the other achievements of this writer. Alexander Sergeevich managed to put into his work the greatest plot, into which readers immersed themselves headlong.
The main characters and their characteristics
List of primary characters:
- Hermann- the main character of the poem, the plot revolves around him. He is German and is a military engineer by training. The man has light skin and black eyes. Possesses distinctive qualities such as secrecy, prudence and frugality. History says that Hermann was left with a small inheritance. Because of his character, he wants to get rich no matter what.
- The countess is the old woman Anna Fedotovna Tomskaya. Despite his age (87 years old), he organizes balls and loves to wear luxurious clothes. Has a selfish character. Expensive things cannot hide her old sagging skin. High society made her a spoiled girl. She owns the secret of three cards, with the help of which she once won back her big loss.
- Lizaveta Ivanovna is a pupil of Anna Fedotovna. She fell in love with Hermann, and he, in turn, uses the modest girl to get closer to the old woman and get the secret of the three cards. Lizaveta is lonely and tolerates the old woman.
Minor characters
The following persons are also present:
- Tomsk- is the grandson of the old countess. He also wants to get the secret of victory. Due to unsuccessful attempts, he predicts Anna Fedotovna's death.
- Count Saint Germain- the man who told the old woman about the combination of three cards.
- Chaplitsky– a man who lost a huge amount of money. Out of pity, the old woman tells him about the three cards.
The work is presented in abbreviation. For better perception and forming your own opinion, it is recommended to read “The Queen of Spades” in the original.
Many schoolchildren ask how many pages are in a work? In fact, there are not many of them - only six chapters, you can read it in one evening.
Chapter I
The novel begins at an evening at Narumov's. The guests played cards and only Hermann, the son of a German, simply watched what was happening.
The military engineer explained this by the fact that only a small inheritance remained in his possessions, which he did not want to lose. Countess Anna Fedotovna did not play either.
Many claimed that she lost her fortune many years ago, then went to borrow money from Saint Germain, but he did not give her anything other than a combination of three cards. If you match three specific cards in a row, then luck will certainly come.
Few people believed this. Only Hermann, who wanted to get rich, decided to reveal the secret. His goal was to get the secret of wealth.
Chapter II
The main character tries by any means to learn about the cards that bring good luck. The entire chapter is devoted to the acquaintance of Hermann and Lizaveta. They look at each other through the window. Only a week later the young girl answers the engineer with a smile.
In parallel with this, Tomsky is going to bring his friend to the old woman’s house. Lisa asks him if Hermann is that friend. But it turns out that this is not a military engineer.
Chapter III
Having not received the secret of the three cards, the engineer writes letters to a beautiful girl every day. She reciprocates, after which the couple has a date.
Lizaveta talked about how Hermann would be able to get into the countess’s house while she was feasting.
Having entered the mansion, the main character hid in the old woman's closet. After her arrival, threatening with a pistol, the military engineer begged the frightened countess for a secret combination.
Anna Fedotovna died from fright.
Chapter IV
After the crime, Hermann came to Lisa’s room. All this time, the girl in love was waiting for him. The engineer said that he was responsible for the death of the countess.
Lizaveta understands that the young man betrayed and took advantage of her feelings. Hermann is tormented by his conscience that he deceived an innocent man.
Chapter V
At Anna Fedotovna's funeral, Hermann experiences visions. It seems to him that the Countess is looking at him from the coffin and laughing. That same night, the old woman comes in a dream. The Countess talks about the secret of the three cards. No more than once a day, with a sequential combination of three, seven and ace, you can win the game and earn big money.
The main condition was that after this you could not play cards for money. The old woman also told the engineer to marry Lizaveta.
Chapter VI
Without wasting time, Hermann goes to St. Petersburg. He is going to play cards with Chekalinsky, a man who practically never loses.
Hermann forgets about the condition of the late old woman to take Lisa as his wife.
On the first day, the main character puts everything on a three, on the second on a seven. And on the third day, instead of an ace, he gets the queen of spades. The engineer believes that Anna Fedotovna grinned at him.
After losing his fortune, Hermann ends up in a psychiatric hospital. Lizaveta marries a rich man.
Brief analysis of the story “The Queen of Spades”
This book is written in several genres. This is a story, a story, and even a novel. There is mysticism here. All chapters contain philosophical statements.
The main character committed three atrocities:
- He renounced his principles, renounced his Christian beliefs, the main driving force is greed.
- He deceived the poor orphan, gained trust in her, seduced her, forced her to believe him and help him get into the house. After the order of the old countess, Hermann did not marry the deceived girl.
- Through deception and cunning, intimidation, threats and illegal entry into someone else's home, Hermann tries to get what he wants.
The main idea is that evil begets evil. Pushkin tried to convey that a person should not cause harm for his own benefit.
Many contemporaries compare Hermann with modern youth who are ready to take risks for the sake of wealth. And only an adult can say that there are no easy ways to make a fortune.
The work has been filmed many times. This first happened in 1910, when Pyotr Chardynin directed silent films. Due to the plot, this feature film was close to the libretto of Tchaikovsky's opera.
The latest film adaptation is the 2016 film by Pavel Lungin called “The Queen of Spades.”
Year: 1833 Genre: story
Main characters: Hermann, Lisa, Anna Fedotovna
The story “The Queen of Spades” tells about a man who could not satisfy his desire - to get as much money as possible for nothing. Hermann decided to trick the Countess into telling him about the three cards. These cards give you money to win. Hermann scares the woman with a pistol, and therefore she dies. But in a dream it seems to come to him, telling him the secret of the cards. But this did not bring him happiness.
The story shows that evil always begets evil. When people want to achieve something the easy way, this is already a crime against the rules, principles and simply the hard work of a person.
Life is hard, especially if you try to achieve something in it without trying to do it in a good, right way, which is full of hard work. Hermann is a handsome and pleasant-looking person. This person is not simple; you can immediately understand that his head is full of plans that he will not reveal to anyone. Maybe they are not completely clear to him, but there is something evil and secretive hidden in him. And, as you know, secrecy cannot be a good quality, because if you are virtuous, why would you hide it from others? He is a military engineer by profession, who received very good capital after the death of his own father. In general, Herman had a father of German nationality, who soon simply became Russified, like many other people of this nationality.
Lisa is a girl, sweet and shy. More officially – Lizaveta Ivanovna. She can be considered a young lady, because she lives with the countess, who is very rich and childless. In fact, Lizaveta is poor, like a church mouse, but she is supported by the Countess, an old woman who is unusually grumpy. This woman occupies a high position in society, as she is rich and has a high title at court. It was also rumored that she knew an extraordinary secret - the secret of three cards, which made it possible to win even for those who had never held cards in their hands. She herself learned this secret when she wanted to borrow money from one person - an old man who was engaged in investing money through the debts of others. But he just wanted to tell her this secret when she found herself in an awkward position, because she did not have the money to pay off her gambling debt. It was he who helped her with this.
She was able to pay off the debt by winning a very large amount of money. But these are all rumors, which not everyone believed as easily as one person immediately believed. This man is Hermann. And not without reason, because it is precisely these people, who want to make money on something easy, who are always looking for such legends that soon turn out to be true. He heard this news for him in the company of one house. When both the Countess herself and he were there. He didn’t want to play cards then, because he didn’t understand why he should spend something very important to him in order to ultimately acquire something unnecessary. And at the same time you have to take too many risks. Then he thought very intelligently. This man, immediately believing the beautiful words about the countess and the secret of the three cards, begins to build thoughts in his head about a plan. He decides that he needs to act immediately.
And one morning, he sees in the window of the Countess's house - a girl, sweet and simple. This is Lizaveta, who was embroidering on a hoop at that moment. She also sees this man, but does not react to him in any way. So a week passed, and Hermann deliberately appeared at the same time in front of the girl’s window. He even began to write letters to her, which she threw back at him out the window, but despite this, he mechanically acted in the same way again.
That is why the girl still could not resist until the end, she gradually falls in love with him, beginning to experience strange and very versatile feelings for him. And even after some time she does not return another message regarding her - she decides to write to him in response. And he does it right away. Hermann is happy. At some time, he invites her on a date, and not knowing when and where to arrange it, they decide to meet in her room. It was at that time that terrible events took place in the countess’s house.
Hermann sneaks into the countess's house, supposedly on a date with Lizaveta, but in fact wants to get into the company of the mistress of the house herself. He hides in the countess's closet in her room. And then, when she comes to her room in the evening, he comes out of the closet, and this really scares her. But he calms her down, saying that he only needs one thing - and this is the secret of three unknown cards that make it possible to win any card game. And he needs to find out, but the Countess is also not so simple - she does not agree to tell the secret to some impostor, but he is not simple either. And therefore, having prepared in advance, he takes out a pistol from his jacket, with which he decides to simply scare her. But the woman, seeing the huge and dangerous weapon, is frightened to the point of having a heart attack and dies.
He tells about this to the unfortunate Lizaveta, who understands everything - that he does not love her. Then in a dream he learns a secret from the countess and begins to win big money. But at some point, he lost everything because of one ill-fated card, and therefore went crazy.
Read the summary of Pushkin's Queen of Spades chapter by chapter
Chapter 1
The plot of the story takes place at the beginning of the 19th century in St. Petersburg. Friends of the young man Narumov gathered at his house for a card game. They played all night and only sat down to dinner at about five in the morning. Everyone present is surprised by the engineer Hermann, who diligently follows the progress of the game, but never dares to try to play. The German explains his behavior by saying that he is not ready to sacrifice money in order to earn a surplus. One of the distinguished guests, Tomsky, immediately understood Hermann’s train of thought. Tomsky told his comrades a story about his old grandmother, Countess Anna Fedotovna.
About 60 years ago she was a charming young lady who outshone other girls with her beauty. Anna Fedotovna loved gambling. Once the Countess lost a huge amount of money to the Duke of Orleans. Her husband flatly refused to settle the debts. Being in a hopeless situation, Anna turned to the famous alchemist Saint-German with a request. The latter, in turn, did not give money, but told the secret about the three winning cards.
The Countess returned to Versailles and immediately took revenge. She did not tell her secret to any of her sons.
The friends took the story ironically.
Chapter 2
Countess Anna Fedotova became a decrepit old woman, selfish, always dissatisfied, capricious, and wayward. Her young pupil Lizaveta Ivanovna got the most from the countess. She was morally tired of this old woman and wanted to quickly get married and escape from this house, which had become a prisoner for her. The girl accompanied the Countess absolutely everywhere. Although she often attended social evenings, no one paid attention to her, even excellent external data did not play a role in this case.
One day Anna Fedotova decided to go for a walk in the city. She, as always, showed her whims, and Lisa sat quietly in the corner and embroidered. Suddenly the countess noticed a military engineer standing near the house and looking intently out the window. From that day on, the young man began to appear here every day.
It was the German Hermann, who was walking around the city and accidentally ended up near the countess’s house. Having learned a couple of days ago about the mysterious three cards, he began to rave about wealth. The young man even dreamed of card games in which he won large sums of money. His main goal was to learn this secret from the old countess. And with the help of the black-haired beauty, Germenn decided to get inside the house.
Chapter 3
The Countess and her pupil decide to go for a walk. As they were getting into the carriage, the engineer quietly snuck in and put a love letter in Lisa's pocket. The girl wrote a refusal and threw the note at Hermann’s feet. But the boy did not give up, on the contrary, he showed more effort each time. In the end, Lisa melted and invited the young man to her room. In the letter she wrote how to get inside the house. This is what the German needed. Instead of waiting for the girl in her room, Herman went into the countess's room and hid. He waited until she was undressed and the countess went to bed. But Anna Fetotova suffered from insomnia for a long time. She sat in the chair for a long time. Then, out of nowhere, a young man came out and began to beg her to tell her the secret about the three cards. And then he even started threatening me with a gun. The old woman could not stand it, fell and died unexpectedly.
Chapter 4
Lisa returned from a social party. She had been looking forward to this meeting with the engineer, but now she had lost the mood, since at the ball she had been polite to Tomsky. He told her a story about his friend, who, according to him, committed at least three crimes. The girl recognizes Hermann from the description.
Lisa entered the room, the young man was not there. A little later he appeared to her. Herman told the whole truth to the girl. Lisa was very upset and disappointed in the young man. She felt a kind of betrayal on his part, because he used her for his own purposes to find out the secret and get rich. Lisa gave him the keys to the hiding place. Hermann came in to look at the Countess one last time and then walked away.
Chapter 5
Hermann is not even worried about the death of the old woman, but he is a very suspicious young man and therefore fears that the spirit of the countess may prevent him from getting rich. He decides to go to the funeral and apologize to Anna Fedotovna. At that moment, when the young man approached the coffin, he imagined that the old woman opened her eye and was grinning at him. Hermann stepped back and fell.
The engineer tries to drown out his fear with alcohol in a tavern. Upon returning home, he lies down and sleeps soundly until the morning. In a dream, he dreamed of a woman in a white robe. It was the late countess.
She told Hermann that she had come at the request, and not of her own free will. She needs to tell the young man that the three winning cards are three, seven and ace. But Hermann only needs to bet one card per day. The deceased forgives him for his participation in her death and asks him to marry Lizaveta.
After this incident, the young man was haunted by thoughts about three cards.
Chapter 6
A wealthy player, Chekalinsky, comes to St. Petersburg. Hermann bets all his money on three and wins. The next day he bets on seven and again good luck. Everyone is watching the game with interest, Hermann bet on the ace and is confident that he will win, but alas, his partners report that his queen is a bat. The engineer observes the queen of spades instead of the ace. At that moment it seemed to him that the old woman herself was mocking him.
Conclusion
Hermann is going crazy. Lisa successfully marries a rich young man, and Tomsky marries a noble person.
The story teaches that greed does not lead to anything good. Stingy people end up with nothing.
The Cockerel and the Hen live together, he is constantly in a hurry, and she invites him to take his time. He never listens to her and does everything as he pleases.
The events of the opera take place in the city of Pskov in the 16th century. The peace of local residents was disturbed by the news of the imminent arrival of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich in the city. While the girls are present in the garden of the rich royal governor Yuri Tokmakov
The book is about Benjamin Driscoll. At the age of 31, Benjamin decided to green the planet Mars. For 30 days he lived on Mars.
Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin is known, first of all, as an outstanding Russian poet and reformer of the Russian literary language. People become familiar with his works in early childhood and many retain their love for them until old age. However, it is impossible to fully judge Pushkin only by his poems, epic poems on fairy-tale and mythological subjects (such as “Ruslan and Lyudmila”, “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” and so on) and even by the largest event in literary life of the first half of the 19th century century - pThis is interesting: Turgenev’s novel. omanu in verse “Eugene Onegin”.
In contact with
Prose in the works of A. S. Pushkin
In the late period of creativity Pushkin is increasingly interested in prose. Being a versatile person, he is interested in significant events of the recent past, and the idea of writing a story about Pugachev’s uprising gradually takes shape.
Not the least role in the appeal of many outstanding Russian writers of that time to subjects from Russian history was played by the ongoing publication of Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin’s fundamental work “History of the Russian State.” Pushkin strives to gain access to government archives in order to work on his work only on reliable grounds, but he fails.
Despite all the obstacles, Pushkin continues to study the history of the Pugachev region, and later the novel “The Captain's Daughter” will appear from this. Striving to discover new means of expression in prose, Pushkin for a long time remained dissatisfied with the quality of the works coming from his pen, so his first completed prose cycle came out relatively late: in the fall of 1830, the writer completed “Belkin’s Tale.” In it, Pushkin showed himself as a subtle stylist and connoisseur of all contemporary artistic movements, but the public reacted coolly to the work.
The failure did not bother the writer: until his death, he worked primarily in prose genres. Not the least role in this was played by his creation of the literary magazine Sovremennik, which had to be filled with literary texts. In the autumn of 1833 in the village of Boldino Pushkin creates a number of diverse works:
- Study of the Peasant War of 1773−1775. "The History of Pugachev."
- Poetic cycle “Songs of the Western Slavs”.
- Poems “The Bronze Horseman”, “The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish”, “Angelo”, “The Tale of Tsar Saltan”.
During the same period, the Queen of Spades was created.- a story about the predetermination of fate. The story of Hermann - a young man who wants to get rich in a short time with minimal effort - arose due to the successful combination of two factors:
- The real story of Princess Golitsina, who once won a large sum thanks to a hint from the Count of Saint-Germain about a combination of three cards.
- The use of artistic means of the movement of romanticism, especially German.
The second fact is especially noticeable in the work: critics often note the closeness of “The Queen of Spades” to the stories of Ernest Hoffmann. The story became the first Russian prose work to gain recognition abroad. Based on the plot of The Queen of Spades, numerous operas were staged, one of which was created by Tchaikovsky, and subsequently the story was repeatedly filmed.
The plot of "The Queen of Spades" in abbreviation
There are a huge number of interesting books, and it is not always possible to find time to read them all. So lately Briefly is popular, or a short retelling of the plot of a work of art.
The plot of the story is as follows: engineer Hermann, who has a small fortune, does not take part in a card game with horse guard Narumov, but he is clearly attracted by the thought of a big win. At the end of the game, Tomsky, one of its participants, tells the story of his grandmother, who received from the French alchemist Saint-Germain a secret combination of cards that allows her to win. After some deliberation, Hermann goes to the Countess and, threatening her with a pistol, tries to force her to reveal her secret.
The Old Countess dies of a heart attack, but soon appears to Hermann in a dream, where he names three secret cards. Hermann goes to play. Twice he manages to win with a large bet, but the third card turns out to be incorrect. Hermann goes crazy and ends up in a psychiatric hospital.
Retelling the story by chapters
In addition to Hermann, the elderly countess and the dark forces, there are other characters in the story who are also necessary for understanding the plot. Below you can read the story “The Queen of Spades” in a chapter-by-chapter summary.
Chapter 1
Late at night, a group of friends gathers at the young horse guard Narumov’s place to play cards. Engineer Hermann does not participate in the game, since a loss would have a serious impact on his meager fortune, but he watches it carefully. Friends make fun of Hermann, noting that both his name and his approach to gambling are German. They don’t understand why Countess Anna Fedotovna, Pavel Tomsky’s grandmother, doesn’t play, because she knows a win-win combination of three cards.
In her youth, Anna Fedotovna often visited Paris. At one of the social evenings, she lost an impressive amount to the Duke of Orleans. Her husband refused to pay her debt, and Anna Fedotovna, in desperation, tried to borrow money from friends. One of them, the alchemist Saint-Germain, declares that he is not able to provide financial assistance, but instead talks about three cards that you can win by betting on. Anna Fedotovna returns to the salon and wins back. Having paid off the debt, she never sits down at the gambling table again and does not tell anyone about the secret, not even her sons.
The young people find the story implausible and, laughing, disperse.
Chapter 2
Anna Fedotovna Tomskaya by that time had become a decrepit and very capricious old woman. Her household suffers from the countess’s quarrelsome character, especially her young pupil Lizaveta Ivanovna. Tomskaya gives her contradictory and absurd orders, and expects their immediate execution. Hermann is unable to forget about the history of the three cards and decides to charm Lizaveta in order to gain access to the countess through her and find out her secret. To do this, he often goes to the countess’s house and stands for a long time in front of the window, where, as he knows, Lizaveta is engaged in embroidery. A handsome young man attracts the attention of a girl tired of the whims of the countess.
At the same time, Hermann’s obsession becomes stronger. He has dreams in which his bet wins, and under the admiring glances of his friends, he shovels numerous banknotes into his pocket.
Chapter 3
Hermann manages to convey to Lizaveta a note with an ardent declaration of love. The girl, although flattered by his attention, writes him a restrained answer and throws it out the window along with Hermann’s message. But he doesn't give up. Through the maids, he continues to send notes to Lizaveta, in which he begs for a date. As a result, the girl agrees and in one of her response messages she tells how to get into the house. This is all the easier to do since Anna Fedotovna, together with her pupil, is going to go to the ball in the evening.
Hermann takes advantage of the situation, but does not enter the girl’s room, but the countess’s room. He patiently waits for her return, and when the maids disperse after dressing for the evening, leaving the mistress alone, Hermann leaves his hiding place and demands from the countess the secret of the three winning cards.
The young man’s pleas do not make any impression on the old woman, and then in desperation he takes out a pistol. Seeing the weapon, the Countess is so frightened that she dies on the spot.
Chapter 4
At the ball, Lizaveta runs into Tomsky, who gives a not very favorable description of Hermann, comparing him to Mephistopheles. The girl internally agrees with this opinion. Upon returning home, she sends the maid away and is relieved to see that Hermann did not show up for the date. However, after some time he enters her room and states that the Countess died some time ago, possibly through his fault. It becomes obvious that the young man does not feel any attraction to the girl, and the whole intrigue was conceived only to get to the countess. Lizaveta still helps Hermann, giving him the key to the secret door to the street.
Chapter 5
Being a suspicious and superstitious person, Hermann decides to go to Anna Fedotovna’s funeral to ask her forgiveness for becoming her unwitting killer. In front of a large crowd of people, he approaches the coffin and faints: it seems to him as if the old woman is looking at him mockingly.
Now it seems to Hermann that the sure path to quick enrichment is lost forever. He goes to a tavern and drinks himself into unconsciousness. Having difficulty reaching home, he falls asleep.
Suddenly waking up around three in the morning, Hermann encounters the ghost of the Countess, who tells him three secret cards - three, seven and ace, but sets several conditions. Firstly, each card can be played only once a day, secondly, the combination can be used only once and after that never take part in the game, and thirdly, Hermann must marry Lizaveta Ivanovna.
Chapter 6
Hermann becomes completely obsessed with three cards: he constantly thinks about them, mentions them inappropriately in conversations. He learns that a game for large sums will soon take place in Moscow, and together with Narumov he goes there.
At the game, Hermann immediately attracts attention bet forty-seven thousand on three. Everyone knows this amount is all he has. Hermann's card wins, and he takes the winnings and leaves the hall.
The next day he comes again, bets his ninety-four thousand on seven and wins again. People around are very surprised, so when Hermann comes to the game for the third time the next day, everyone leaves their games to watch him.
Having bet all his money on the ace, Hermann, without looking, announces that he has won. To this his opponent, Chekalinsky, replies: "Your lady was killed". The engineer looks at his map in horror; it seems to him that the old woman herself is smiling mockingly from it.
The shock turns out to be so strong that Hermann is sent for treatment to the Obukhov hospital, where he constantly repeats false and true combinations of cards. The fate of the remaining characters develops in full accordance with their place in society: Lizaveta Ivanovna successfully marries the wealthy son of the manager of the old countess and has a pupil with her, and Tomsky is successfully moving up the career ladder.
The meaning of the story in Russian literature
"The Queen of Spades" is an example of Pushkin's mature prose, where all his basic artistic principles were embodied. They can be presented as the following list:
Pushkin's work had a serious influence on other writers. In particular, the motif of a terrible dream was deeply embedded in Dostoevsky’s prose, and the clear predominance of the realistic over the romantic formed the basis of Gogol’s stories. After many years of searching for new means of artistic expression, Pushkin was able to create a text that appealed to both critics and the mass reader.
Friends of the horse guard Narumov once gathered at his place for a card game. Many people made big bets. Only one of the guests, the German engineer Hermann, despite a strong desire, did not take cards in his hands, because for him, a poor man, any loss would be sensitive.
Another guest, the noble Tomsky, told an amazing story about his 80-year-old grandmother, the countess. More than half a century ago, she visited Paris, shone with her beauty in the best French salons, and once lost a huge sum to the Duke of Orleans.
The husband refused to pay it, and then the famous alchemist, Count Saint-Germain, came to the aid of Tomsky’s grandmother. He revealed to her a secret way to guess three winning cards in a row. The Countess appeared at Versailles and won back the entire lost amount. But after that she rarely participated in the game, and did not reveal her secret to any of her four sons.
Pushkin “The Queen of Spades”, chapter 2 – summary
At that time, Tomsky’s grandmother turned into a decrepit old woman who tormented everyone at home with her whims. The young pupil of this old lady, Lizaveta Ivanovna, suffered most from them. But she, a poor kept woman, had to endure them against her will.
Two days after the card party at Narumov’s, Lizaveta Ivanovna was sitting by the window in the countess’s house doing embroidery. Looking down the street, she suddenly saw a young engineering officer who did not take his eyes off her. He stood there for quite some time, and then Lisa began to see the officer in the same place every day. He looked at her relentlessly, and a secret trembling arose in the soul of the lonely girl.
It was the engineer Hermann, whose imagination was clouded by the story about the three cards. Having a modest fortune, Hermann dreamed of increasing it. He began to have dreams that he had learned the secret of the old countess and was pocketing banknotes from the green card table. Hermann found the house of Tomsky’s grandmother, saw the head of a pretty girl in one of its windows and decided to use it to get inside.
Pushkin “The Queen of Spades”, chapter 3 – summary
Once, when the Countess and Lisa were getting into a carriage at the house, Hermann grabbed the girl’s hand and thrust a note into it with a declaration of love. The embarrassed Lisa wrote a polite refusal and the next day threw it out of the window at Hermann’s feet. However, he did not let up. The maids of the neighboring shops began to bring Lizaveta Ivanovna letters from the strange officer. Lisa initially tore them up, but the messages burned with such uncontrollable passion that she soon gave up. Lisa began to answer Hermann affectionately and finally invited him to her room at night, telling him how to get there.
Lisa and the Countess went to the ball that day. Hermann had to sneak in to Lisa in their absence and wait in the room for the girl to return. But he made his way not to Lisa, but to the old lady’s room, hid by the stove and, in great excitement, waited for the hostess to arrive from the ball.
Finally the old woman was brought in and prepared for bed. The Countess sat down in a chair, and Hermann came out of hiding and began to ask her to guess the three correct cards for him. The old lady was silent in fear. Hermann knelt in front of her, and then took a pistol out of his pocket. The Countess fell from her chair and died of horror.
A. S. Pushkin “The Queen of Spades”. Audiobook
Pushkin “The Queen of Spades”, chapter 4 – summary
Lisa, returning from the ball, did not find Hermann in her bedroom, but after a while the door opened and he entered. Hermann told the girl about the death of the countess, whose unwitting cause he had become, and admitted that all his “love” was just a deception for the purpose of enrichment. The shocked Lisa began to cry, but then the sight of Hermann, sitting in deep thought, aroused some compassion in her. Lisa gave him the key to the door to the street and told him how to get out of the house.
Pushkin “The Queen of Spades”, chapter 5 – summary
Three days later, Hermann was present in the church at the funeral service of the Countess. When he approached the coffin and looked at the face of the dead lady, it suddenly seemed to him that she looked at him mockingly.
That same night, Hermann woke up at home and could no longer sleep. Suddenly someone flashed past the window, looking into it. The door of the room opened and the Countess entered in a white dress. She told Hermann that she was sent to him against her will, but she would name three winning cards. These will be three, seven and ace. Having ordered Hermann, after this win, not to sit down at the gambling table for the rest of his life and to marry Lizaveta Ivanovna, the Countess left.
Pushkin “The Queen of Spades”, chapter 6 – summary
Soon a big game opened in St. Petersburg. Narumov brought Hermann to it, who immediately bet on three and 47 thousand - with all the money he had. Hearing about the huge bet, players from all over the room gathered around the table. To everyone's surprise, Hermann won. The next day he put 47 thousand of his own and 47 thousand he won yesterday on the line, bet on seven and won again.
A day later, the whole company was waiting for Hermann, burning with curiosity. He again laid everything he had on the table and bet on the ace. The banker, having finished the deal, announced that Hermann had lost: the card he had chosen was not an ace, but a queen of spades. Hermann could not understand how he could confuse her with an ace. He suddenly noticed: the Queen of Spades in his hands was unusually similar in face to the old countess. It seemed to Hermann that the lady narrowed her eyes and grinned. "Old woman!" – he shouted in horror.
After this game, Hermann went crazy and was hospitalized. Lizaveta Ivanovna married a very kind and rich young man.