25 pages • 50 minutes read
Alexander PushkinThe Queen Of Spades
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1834A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Ghosts and Storytelling
“The Queen of Spades” is a ghost story. Both the appearance of the countess’s ghost and the notion of haunting are important parts of the story, as is the act of storytelling itself. Hermann first hears about the countess’s trick in the early hours of the morning. Together with his friends, he sits at a table and listens to a strange and seemingly supernatural story. Hearing the story plants an idea in his mind; the idea then metastasizes and festers in his thoughts, haunting him throughout every moment until he is forced to act.
After being haunted by the idea that he can guarantee a win at a card game, Hermann takes matters into his own hands. He tricks Lizaveta into inviting him into the countess’s house, and then he confronts the countess. The confrontation brings Hermann face-to-face with death. Although he does not murder the countess directly, his appearance in her home hastens her death. He bears partial responsibility for her murder, and the ambiguity of his responsibility haunts him. If not for Hermann’s greed, the countess might still be alive. Though Hermann assures himself that he is not to blame, the question lingers in his mind and his guilt manifests at the funeral when he is convinced that the countess’s corpse winks at him. After being haunted by the idea of the card trick, Hermann becomes haunted by his feelings of guilt.
The countess then returns to haunt Hermann in a literal sense. She haunts him by teaching him her trick. She claims that she was ordered to share this information with Hermann, implying that even in death she is at the behest of a higher power. She teaches Hermann her trick but also imposes limits on how it can be used. The prospect of success begins to haunt Hermann once again. When he overuses the trick and breaks the rules, he loses everything. The countess appears one last time: the Queen of Spades winks at Hermann, haunting him at his lowest moment. Hermann loses his mind, forever haunted by his inability to follow the countess’s rules.
Envy and Lust
Envy and lust are interwoven motivations in “The Queen of Spades.” Hermann and Lizaveta envy other people’s success, causing them to act immorally. Hermann’s envy focuses on money. Born to a family of modest means, he has scrimped and saved for his entire life. Yet, he is surrounded by friends and colleagues who were born into wealth and never need to worry about money. Hermann envies Tomsky’s capacity to lose a fortune at the card table and not be concerned that he has lost his life’s savings. With less money than his friends, Hermann thinks about money more often. Every small amount he saves, every hand of cards that he does not play, and every expense frittered away by his friends adds to his envy. The reason the countess’s trick obsesses Hermann is that it offers the chance to become as rich as his friends without risk.
Lizaveta’s envy is different. She is also poor compared to the countess, but she envies her peers’ social opportunities. At dances and balls, no one pays attention to her. At home, she is bullied and harassed by the countess. Lizaveta wishes that she had a home, a husband, and a life of her own. She believes that her only escape is through marriage. Her envy manifests as sexual desire, as she begins to welcome the sudden attention from Hermann in the hope that he will rescue her and satiate her envy. After her initial hesitancy, Lizaveta is swept along in a lustful passion by Hermann’s letters. Despite having never met him, she encourages him to sneak into her room. Her behavior reveals her desperation.
Envy motivates both Hermann and Lizaveta, but they react differently when they realize how completely it has overwhelmed them. When Lizaveta finds her room empty, she recognizes what she has become. She immediately loses interest in Hermann and feels guilty about allowing her mind to be overrun by lust. Eventually, Lizaveta is rewarded for her contrition. She attains the life she wanted with a husband and a ward of her own. Her envy and her lust are satisfied. Hermann, however, does not learn the error of his ways. When he receives everything he wants, he continues to envy. Winning once and then twice at the card table is not enough, even though he has become the kind of rich man he always envied. He continues to play, and he breaks the countess’s rules. As a result, he loses everything. Envy ultimately destroys Hermann’s life.
Fate and Fortune
“The Queen of Spades” describes Hermann’s downfall and prompts the audience to ask whether he was destined to fail. Hermann’s fate is tied to his character. He is aware that he is not as lucky or as rich as his friends, so he denies himself one of his favorite pastimes. Hermann exercises restraint. He does not gamble on cards because he knows that doing so will unleash a monster inside him, potentially causing him to lose everything. Hermann’s constant battle to overcome his natural urges is a daily victory for which he is rewarded by slow and steady financial growth. He has a good career ahead of him and enough money to support himself.
The importance of fate and fortune is revealed through Hermann’s friends. Characters like Tomsky are born into aristocratic families. Through good fortune (rather than hard work or self-control), they are wealthy and influential. These men can gamble to their hearts’ content. Their fate is dictated by their fortune; they are destined to marry aristocratic women and spend their lives in luxury. Even the countess’s sons, who are notoriously bad gamblers, are wealthier than Hermann can ever be. Their lives show how a fortuitous birth can shape a person’s fate to the point where they never need to worry about the issues that haunt Hermann.
The countess’s trick offers Hermann the opportunity to take his fate and fortune into his hands. So long as he adheres to the rules, he can win a vast fortune and enjoy the same life as his peers. However, Hermann cannot overcome his nature. After a lifetime of self-denial, he unleashes his urges. He cannot stop gambling. While the trick may be able to improve his odds at the card table, Hermann begins to gamble with his soul. He flouts the rules and, in doing so, loses his fortune. Hermann becomes the man he feared that he might become.
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By Alexander Pushkin
