"The Queen of Spades·Pushkin"Original text

Summary of the work

The young officer Hermann is a German-Russian. Once when he was watching someone playing cards, he heard that Countess Fedotovna had lost a large sum of money gambling in France, and later turned it all over with the help of three mysterious cards. In order to get this secret, Hermann frantically pursues the lady's adopted daughter Lisaveta. Lizaveta lived a life of dependence on others, always dreaming of someone coming to rescue her, so she responded quickly. One day she made an appointment with Hermann to meet her in her boudoir after accompanying her to a ball. Hermann took the opportunity to hide in the countess's room in advance. After the lady came back from the ball, she was sitting alone on a lounge chair to rest. Hermann suddenly appeared and asked her to tell him the three cards, but she refused. In desperation, Hermann pulled out a pistol and threatened her. The lady died of fright. Herman then told Lisaveta what had just happened. Lisaveta was horrified and immediately realized his despicable intentions in "passionately pursuing" her, and she regretted it. Three days later, Hermann went to attend his wife's funeral. He woke up in the middle of the night and could not fall back to sleep. He recalled his wife's funeral. At this time, he suddenly felt that the door was opened, and it was the old lady who came in! She told Herman that the three cards were three, seven and ace. One day, Herman came to a famous casino and used these three cards to win a lot of money. He won again the next day. On the third day, just when Herman thought he would win again, he discovered that the "A" he played had accidentally turned into the "Queen of Spades". He couldn't believe his eyes, as if he saw the "Queen of Spades" squinting at him. He was horrified and eventually went mad.

Selected works

As soon as Lisaveta Ivanovna took off her coat and hat, the countess sent for her and ordered the carriage to be prepared. They went out for a ride. At the moment when the two servants were helping the old lady into the carriage and entering the carriage door, Lisaveta Ivanovna noticed the engineer officer beside the wheel; he took her hand, and she was astonished, and Before she came back to her senses, the young man had already walked away, leaving a letter in her hand. She hid the letter in her glove and was in a daze all the way, hearing and seeing nothing. The countess had a habit of asking something from time to time while sitting in the carriage: Who were they meeting? What is this bridge called? What's written on the sign over there? This time Lizaveta Ivanovna always answered casually, and every time she was wrong, and the countess was very angry about it.

"What's wrong with you, my mother! Are you dizzy or something? Did you not hear what I said or didn't understand?... Glory to God, I can still speak clearly, too No fool!"

Lizaveta Ivanovna did not listen to her. As soon as she got home, she ran into her room and took out the letter from her glove: the letter was unsealed. Lisaveta Ivanovna read it in one sitting. This is a letter expressing love to her. It is affectionate and polite. It was copied verbatim from a German novel. Lizaveta Ivanovna, who knew no German, was very happy.

However, this letter made her restless. For the first time in her life, she develops a secret and intimate relationship with a young man. His audacity frightened her. She blamed herself for being too careless and didn't know what to do: Should she stop sitting at the window? Should she ignore him, give him a cold shoulder, and let him stop pursuing her in the future? Do you want to write him a letter? Should I reject him coldly and decisively? She had no one to talk to, she had no little sisters, and no one to guide her. Lizaveta Ivanovna decided to write him a reply.

She sat down in front of the writing desk, picked up a pen and paper, and began to think deeply. She started a few times and tore up the letter: sometimes she felt her tone was too tolerant, and sometimes she felt it was too harsh. She finally wrote a few sentences and felt satisfied. She wrote: "I believe that your intentions are sincere and do not want to insult me ??with rash actions; but our acquaintance should not be adopted in this way. I am returning the letter and hope that I will not blame you for the future. I don't respect that.

”

The next day, Lisaveta Ivanovna saw Hermann approaching, stood up from the embroidery stand, walked into the hall, opened the transom, and threw the letter into the street. I hope the young officer can pick it up quickly. Hermann ran over, picked up the letter, and went into a food store. He opened the envelope and saw his letter and Lisaveta Ivanovna's reply. It was what he had expected, and after returning home, he concentrated on planning the courtship.

Three days later, a young and quick-eyed seamstress came to Lisa from the fashion store. Lisaveta Ivanovna sent a note. She thought it was a debt collection and opened it nervously, but she immediately recognized Hermann's handwriting. p>

"My dear, you are mistaken," she said, "this note is not for me. ”

“No, it’s really for you!” "The bold girl replied without hiding her mysterious smile. "Please take a look! "

Lizaveta Ivanovna read the note quickly. Hermann asked her to go on a date.

"Impossible! Lizaveta Ivanovna said that she was greatly surprised that Hermann could not wait to make such a request and adopt such a method. "This note is really not addressed to me!" "As she said this, she tore the letter into pieces.

"Since the letter is not written to you, why did you tear it up? "The seamstress said, "I can send it back to the person who sent it! ”

“As you wish, dear! said Lizaveta Ivanovna, blushing deeply as the dressmaker revealed her secret. "Don't send me any notes again." Please tell the person who asked you to send the note that he should be ashamed..."

But Hermann did not give up. Lisaveta Ivanovna received him every day Letters sent by various means. The contents of the letters were no longer translated from German. Hermann wrote these letters to her passionately and in his own language: In his letters Expressing his unwavering desire and pouring out his uncontrollable fantasies, Lizaveta Ivanovna no longer wanted to return the letters: they intoxicated her; she began to write to him. In reply, her letters became longer and longer, becoming more and more affectionate. One day, she finally threw him the following letter from the window:

"Today the minister of a certain country will hold a ball. The countess will go there. We'll be there until two o'clock. Now you have the opportunity to meet with me alone. As soon as the countess left, her servants would leave, leaving only a porter in the porch, but he usually retired to his room. You can come at half past eleven. Go straight up the stairs. If you meet anyone in the anteroom, ask the countess if she is at home. They'll tell you they're not there - then there's nothing you can do but go back. But you probably won't meet anyone. The maids were all together in their chambers. You pass through the anteroom and turn left until you reach the Countess's bedroom. Behind the screen in the bedroom you will see two small doors: to the right leads to the study, where the Countess never went; to the left leads to the corridor, from which there is a narrow spiral staircase, which leads to my room. "

Hermann was trembling like a tiger, anxiously waiting for the appointed time. At ten o'clock in the evening, he had arrived in front of the countess's mansion. The weather was extremely bad: the wind was howling. The ground roared, and large tracts of wet snow fell; the street lights gave off dim light; the street was empty, and the coachman driving a carriage pulled by a thin horse occasionally stretched his neck to see if there were any passengers returning late. Hermann, standing there in his frock coat, felt neither the wind nor the blizzard. The countess's carriage was finally ready. Hermann saw a hunchback wrapped in a mink coat. The old woman, and then her adopted daughter, clad in a thin cloak and with flowers on her head, flashed. The carriage trudged out through the soft snow, and the porter closed the door and put out the light. Hermann walked around the empty mansion: He approached the streetlight and looked at his watch - it read eleven-twenty.

He stood under the street lamp, watching the hands on the watch, waiting for the few minutes to pass. At half-past eleven Hermann walked up the steps to the Countess's mansion and entered the brightly lit porch. The janitor is not here. Hermann climbed the stairs, opened the door to the anteroom, and saw a servant sleeping in a dirty old-fashioned armchair under the lamp. Hermann walked past him gently but without hesitation. The hall and living room were dark. Only the light from the front hall illuminated these two halls faintly. Hermann went into the bedroom. A golden lamp is lit in front of a shrine filled with ancient statues of gods. Several faded satin armchairs and peeling gilded sofas with down cushions were symmetrically placed against the wall covered with Chinese wallpaper, making them look desolate and desolate. On the wall hang two portraits painted by Madame Leblanc in Paris. One of the paintings depicts a man about forty years old, with a ruddy face and a fat body, wearing a light green uniform and a medal; the other depicts a young beauty with a high nose and pulled back hair on her temples. She wore a rose in her combed and powdered hair. Every corner is filled with porcelain shepherdess statues, the famous table clock made by Leroy, small boxes, gambling roulette wheels, fans and the late 20th century paintings of Montgolifière balloons and Mesmer hypnosis. Women's toys were invented at the same time. Hermann went behind the screen. There is a small iron bed behind the screen; on the right is a door leading to the study; on the left another door leads to the corridor. Hermann opened the door on the left and saw a narrow spiral staircase, which led to the room of the poor adopted daughter... But he turned around and walked into the dark study.

Time flies so slowly. The room was quiet. The clock in the living room struck twelve; the clocks in all the rooms struck twelve one after another - and then silence fell again in the house. Hermann stood, leaning against the unlit stove. He was not anxious at all; his heart beat calmly, like all men who are determined to take risks for some necessity. The clock struck one and two o'clock successively, when he heard the rumble of a carriage in the distance. He couldn't help but get excited. The carriage came to the door and stopped. He heard the pedal being lowered. The mansion was busy. Servants ran, shouts were heard, lamps were lighted in the house; three old maids ran into the bedroom, and then the countess entered feebly and sat down in a high-backed chaise longue. Through the opening Hermann saw Lizaveta Ivanovna passing him. He heard her hasty footsteps ascending the stairs. He seemed to feel guilty, but after a while he became completely calm. His heart became as hard as stone.

The Countess began to remove her makeup in the mirror. The maids took off her hat with the roses on it; they took off the powdered wig from her short, silver-haired head. Pins fell one by one like rain around her. The yellow dress embroidered with silver thread fell to her swollen feet. Hermann saw with his own eyes the disgusting secret concealed by her attire; in the end the countess was left in nothing but a nightgown and a bonnet on her head: a look more befitting of her eldest age, So it looks less scary and ugly.

Like most elderly people, the Countess suffered from insomnia. After taking off her makeup, she sat on the high-backed lounge chair by the window and dismissed the maid. The candle was taken away, leaving only one light in the room. The countess sat there, her face sallow, her drooped lips trembling slightly, and her whole body swaying from side to side. Her cloudy eyes looked very dull. Looking at her, one could really think that the swing of this terrible old woman was not caused by her will, but by a potential electric current in her body.

Suddenly, this lifeless face changed greatly. The lips stopped trembling, the eyes moved nervously: before the countess stood a strange man.

"Please don't be afraid, for God's sake, please don't be afraid!" he whispered clearly. "I don't want to kill you; I just come to ask for your grace."

The old woman looked at him silently, as if she didn't hear what he was saying. Hermann thought she was deaf, so he bent down and repeated what he had just said in her ear. The old woman remained silent.

"You can make me happy for a lifetime," Herman continued, "and it will be easy on you: I know you can guess three cards in a row..."

Herman said no more. The countess seemed to understand his request, and she seemed to be considering the appropriate words to answer him.

"This is a joke," she finally said, "I swear to you! This is a joke!"

"This is nothing to joke about," Hermann said angrily. replied, "You must remember Czaplicki, it was you who helped him to rewrite his book."

The countess was obviously very nervous. Her expression reflected a strong inner agitation, but she soon fell back into her previous state of numbness.

"Can you tell me these three winning cards?" Herman asked again.

The countess was silent, and Hermann continued:

"Who are you keeping this secret for? For your grandson? They just don't know it. The secret is rich enough. They don't know the value of money at all. Those who spend money lavishly cannot help but die even if they try their best like the devil. Poverty. I am not a person who likes to spend money. I will not waste these three cards. Tell me!

He stopped talking and felt a little confused. Shivering, he waited for her answer. The Countess remained silent; Hermann knelt down.

"If only your heart had ever felt the feeling of love," he said, "if you could only remember the joy of love, if only once you could smile when your newborn son cried. Now, if any human emotion has ever stirred in your breast, I beg you with all the sacred emotions that a wife, a lover, a mother, in a word, may have in a man's life, do not refuse my request - to me! Reveal your secret! What else do you want it to do? ...Perhaps it will cause appalling evil and cost people a lifetime of happiness. What kind of agreement do you want to make with the devil? Think about it: You are already old. , I won’t live long, I am willing to bear your sins with my soul. You just need to reveal your secret to me. Think about it, a person’s happiness is in your hands, not only me, but also mine. Your sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons will all be grateful for your great kindness and regard your kindness as a sacred object..."

The old woman did not answer a word.

Herman stood up.

"Old witch!" He gritted his teeth and said, "I have to force you to answer..."

As he said that, he pulled out the pistol from his pocket.

As soon as the countess saw the pistol, she became violently excited again. She shook her head, raised a hand as if to block his shot...then she fell back...and became motionless.

"Don't be ridiculous," Hermann grabbed her hand and said, "I ask you one last time, do you want to tell me the three cards?"

Countess No answer. Hermann found that she was dead.

Lizaveta Ivanovna sat in her room, still dressed for the ball, deep in thought. As soon as she got home, she hurriedly sent away the sleepy maid who was unwilling to serve her. She told the maid that she could undress herself, and went tremblingly to her room, expecting to meet Hermann there but hoping not to see him at all. She concluded at a glance that he was not coming, and thanked fate for having placed an obstacle in their tryst. She sat down, without taking off her clothes, and thought of all the circumstances which had so infatuated her in so short a time.

It had been less than three weeks since she first saw the young man at the window, but she had already corresponded with him, and he had already obtained her permission to have a tryst at night! She only knew his name from a few letters signed by him; before this night, she had never spoken to him, never heard his voice, never heard anything about him... What a strange thing. ! It was at the ball that night that Tomsky became angry with young Princess Polina. Because she was uncharacteristically refusing to flirt with him, he invited Lizaveta Ivanovna to dance endless mazurkas, hoping to take revenge on Polina for showing her indifference. All the evening Tomsky joked with Lisaveta Ivanovna about her infatuation with the engineer officer, telling her that he knew a lot more than she could imagine. Several times one of his jokes hit her so hard that Lisaveta Ivanovna thought several times that he must know her secret.

"Who did you hear these things from?" she asked him with a smile.

"I heard it from a friend of your acquaintance," Tomsky replied, "That is a very outstanding person."

"Who is this outstanding person? "Yeah?"

"His name is Hermann"

Lizaveta Ivanovna didn't answer anything, but her hands and feet were as cold as ice. …

“This Hermann,” Tomsky continued, “has the face of a typical novelist: his profile is like Napoleon, his soul like Mephistopheles. I think, There are at least three crimes that he should be guilty of. Why are you looking so pale! ..."

"I have a headache... What did Herman say to you? "Where is the person?"

"Hermann was very dissatisfied with his friend. He said that if it were him, he would have taken another approach... I even think that Hermann was beating you. At least he felt very uneasy when he heard his friend's loving admiration."

"Where did he see me?"

"Maybe in the church. , or while walking! ... God knows! Maybe in your room, when you were sleeping: he..."

Three ladies came over and asked him "forget or regret", interrupted the conversation that Lizaveta Ivanovna was anxious to continue.

The young lady chosen by Tomsky was Princess Polina. She danced with him one more time and spun in front of her chair one more time. During this time, she and he made peace again. When Tomsky returned to his seat, he no longer thought of Hermann and Lisaveta Ivanovna. Lisaveta Ivanovna longed to resume the interrupted conversation, but the mazurka had ended, and the old countess had gone.

Tomsky’s words were just casual remarks while dancing the mazurka, but they were deeply imprinted in the heart of this imaginative young girl. Tomsky's casual portrait coincided with her imagination; because of the latest story she heard, this face that already seemed very vulgar could not help but make her feel uneasy and indulge in her imagination. She sat with her arms crossed, her head with flowers hanging on her bare chest... Suddenly, the door opened and Hermann walked into the room. She trembled all over...

"Where were you just now?" she asked softly in fear.

"In the old countess's bedroom," replied Hermann, "I have just come from her. The countess is dead."

"My God! . . . What are you talking about?..."

"It seems that I scared her to death." Herman continued.

Lisaveta Ivanovna glanced at him and couldn't help but recall Tomsky's words in her heart: "There are at least three crimes for which he should feel guilty!" Hermann sat down On the windowsill next to her, he told her everything that happened.

Lizaveta Ivanovna listened to his words with horror.

It turns out that these passionate letters, these blazing demands, this rude and entangled pursuit, are not all out of love! Money - this is what he longs for! It's not her who can satisfy his desires and make him happy! This poor adopted daughter is nothing more than a murderer of her old benefactor and a blind accomplice to the robbers! ... She regretted it so much that she cried bitterly. Hermann looked at her silently: He was also heartbroken, but neither the tears of the poor girl nor the amazing charm of her painful look could touch his hard heart. Thinking of the old woman's death, he was not condemned by his conscience. Only one thing annoyed him: he no longer had access to the secret by which he had hoped to make a fortune.

"You are a devil!" Lisaveta Ivanovna finally said to him.

"I didn't mean to kill her," Hermann replied, "my pistol was unloaded."

They were silent.

Morning has come. Lisaveta Ivanovna blew out the dying candle: a faint twilight came into her room. She wiped her tear-stained eyes and raised her eyes to look at Hermann: He was sitting on the windowsill, folding his hands and frowning fiercely. It looked exactly like Napoleon's portrait. The resemblance between the two persons astonished even Lizaveta Ivanovna.

"How do you get out of this mansion?" Lisaveta Ivanovna said at last. "I originally wanted to take you out from the secret staircase, but I was afraid to walk past the countess's bedroom."

"Please tell me how to find this secret staircase, and I will go out by myself "

Lizaveta Ivanovna stood up, took out the key from the cabinet, handed it to Herman, and told him the way out in detail. Hermann shook her cold, unresponsive hand, kissed her bowed head, and walked out.

He went down the spiral staircase and entered the countess's bedroom again. The dead old woman still sat stiff; her face looked peaceful. Hermann stood in front of her and looked at her for a long time, as if he wanted to see if this terrible thing was true. Finally, he walked into the study, felt the secret door behind the wallpaper, and walked down the dark stairs. A strange feeling excited him. He thought that maybe sixty years ago, there was such a lucky young man, wearing an embroidered robe, combing his hair like a crane, holding a three-cornered hat in his hand, and holding it close to his chest. At this moment, too, from this moment Sneaking up the stairs into this bedroom, this young man has long been rotting in the grave, and the heart of this 70-year-old mistress has only stopped beating today...

Hermann found a door under the stairs. , he opened the lock with the key, walked into the passage, and from here to the street.

(Translated by Feng Chun and Zhang Hui)

Appreciation

"The Queen of Spades" describes the lives of gamblers in Petersburg's upper class society and shapes their personal The image of the communist adventurer Hermann profoundly exposes his ugly soul and reflects the abominable appearance of the money-grubbing ambitions of people in the upper class and the unscrupulous means they use to achieve this goal when capitalism is about to come in Russia.

The third and fourth chapters selected here describe the story of Herman’s mad pursuit of Lisaveta and cruelly forcing the old lady to death in order to achieve his ulterior purpose.

In order to satisfy his desire for money, Herman did not hesitate to deceive a girl's love as a means. His sanctimonious appearance and inner despicable selfishness are fully revealed in his pursuit of Lizaveta. Pushkin highlighted the sublimity of Herman's pursuit through the description of Lisaveta's various psychological activities. As the adopted daughter of the old lady, Lisaveta heard and witnessed the love affairs of men and women all day long, but her status meant that she was often left aside. Her passion was ruthlessly suppressed, and she was naturally full of a desire for romantic affairs. A gentleman's desire. Hermann is a sophisticated and cunning love expert, and Lizaveta, a woman with little experience in the world, is naturally no match for him. "He took Lizaveta's hand boldly and thrust the letter into her hand.

"Sure enough, this sudden physical contact produced an electric shock reaction in Lisaveta: She almost lost her mind and read Hermann's letter "in one breath". Knowing that Lisaveta knew nothing about German, he read Hermann's letter from the German novel A love letter was copied from the novel, which made her unable to control herself. Lizaveta's electric shock reaction and her hesitation in replying fully reflected the contradiction between her inner passion and reason. She seemed to be refusing righteously, but her not-so-"bright" reply clearly told Herman that she was half-hearted, and the experienced Herman struck while the iron was hot and forced a date. It was difficult for Lisaveta to resist this. Therefore, it is reasonable to fall into the trap set by Herman.

The novel does not directly expose Herman's ugly mind, but uses the influence of the countess's grandson Tomsky. Tomsky believed that Herman's soul was absorbed by the devil Mephistopheles, and that Herman's heart was cruelly played with evil. In order to get these "three cards", he tried his best to use threats, inducements, humiliation and pleading, and even ignored the health of the old lady when he failed to achieve his goal. and psychological condition, and brutally threatened the old lady with a gun, causing the old lady to be frightened to death. However, after the old lady died, “he was not condemned by his conscience. There was only one thing that annoyed him: he could no longer get the secret, and he had expected to make a fortune from it." What Pushkin showed to readers was indeed a devilish figure.

Pushkin also used the The description of Lisaveta, a girl who fell in love for the first time, successfully created the image of a little character who is eager to change her destiny. The young Lisaveta is the adopted daughter of the old lady. The old lady is selfish, cold and has a weird temper. Vita is often scolded by her, and she fantasizes about using love to change her destiny. The cunning Herman sees the hope of realizing his dream in Lisa Vita. Herman, a veteran in love, has a complete understanding of this woman's complex psychology. Under his affectionate entanglement, Lisaveta's psychological defense was completely broken, and one day she secretly asked Herman to meet in her room. Herman finally found a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get close to the countess. Tomsky's words made Lisaveta realize that Hermann's love letters and entangled pursuits might not be out of love, but out of some despicable and ulterior motives, but she was intoxicated in love. She was lucky. It wasn't until Herman came to her room and told her the news of the old lady's death that she finally realized that Herman "was a devil" and that only the old lady's secret was the most powerful. Lisaveta, who longed for a peaceful, happy and love-filled life, played a tragic role in reality.

In "The Queen of Spades", Pushkin showed his ability as an excellent realist writer. He created a new chapter through dramatic plots such as characters' inner confessions and dreams, as well as penetrating psychological descriptions. It pioneered the "Petersburg novels" and had a great influence on the "social psychological novels" created by later writers such as Lermontov and Dostoyevsky.

(Chen Liufang)