How loyalty and love are connected garnet bracelet. Kuprin "Garnet Bracelet": genre of work
Story by A.I. Kuprin " Garnet bracelet", published in 1910, is one of the most poetic works of art in Russian literature of the 20th century. It opens with an epigraph referring the reader to the famous work of L. van Beethoven - the “Appassionata” sonata. To this same musical theme the author returns at the end of the story. The first chapter is a detailed landscape sketch, revealing the contradictory variability of the natural elements. In it A.I. Kuprin introduces us to the image of the main character - Princess Vera Nikolaevna Sheina, the wife of the leader of the nobility. At first glance, a woman’s life seems calm and carefree. Despite the financial difficulties, Vera and her husband have an atmosphere of friendship and mutual understanding in their family. Only one small detail alarms the reader: on her name day, her husband gives Vera earrings made of pear-shaped pearls. Doubt involuntarily creeps in that the heroine’s family happiness is so strong, so indestructible.
She comes to Sheina’s name day younger sister, who, like Pushkin’s Olga, who sets off the image of Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, sharply contrasts with Vera both in character and in appearance. Anna is frisky and wasteful, and Vera is calm, reasonable and economical. Anna is attractive but ugly, while Vera is endowed with aristocratic beauty. Anna has two children, but Vera has no children, although she passionately desires to have them. Important artistic detail, revealing Anna’s character is the gift she gives to her sister: Anna brings Vera a small notebook made from an old prayer book. She enthusiastically talks about how she carefully selected leaves, clasps and a pencil for the book. Faith, the very fact of altering the prayer book into notebook seems blasphemous. This shows the integrity of her nature and emphasizes how much more seriously the older sister takes life. We will soon learn that Vera graduated from the Smolny Institute - one of the best educational institutions for women in noble Russia, and her friend is the famous pianist Zhenya Reiter.
Among the guests who arrived for the name day, General Anosov is an important figure. It is this man, wise in life, who has seen danger and death in his lifetime, and therefore knows the value of life, who tells several stories about love in the story, which can be designated in the artistic structure of the work as insert novellas. Unlike the vulgar family stories narrated by Prince Vasily Lvovich, Vera’s husband and the owner of the house, where everything is distorted and ridiculed, turns into a farce, the stories of General Anosov are filled with real life details. This is how a dispute arises in the story about what true love is. Anosov says that people have forgotten how to love, that marriage does not at all imply spiritual closeness and warmth. Women often get married to get out of care and be the mistress of the house. Men are tired of single life. A significant role in marriages is played by the desire to continue the family line, and selfish motives are often not in last place. “Where is the love?” - asks Anosov. He is interested in the kind of love for which “to accomplish any feat, to give one’s life, to undergo torment is not work at all, but one joy.” Here, in the words of General Kuprin, in essence, reveals his concept of love: “Love must be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world. No life conveniences, calculations or compromises should concern her.” Anosov talks about how people become victims of their love feeling, about love triangles that exist against all reason.
Against this background, the story examines the love story of telegraph operator Zheltkov for Princess Vera. This feeling flared up when Vera was still free. But she did not reciprocate his feelings. Contrary to all logic, Zheltkov did not stop dreaming about his beloved, wrote tender letters to her, and even sent her a gift for her name day - a gold bracelet with garnets that looked like droplets of blood. An expensive gift forces Vera’s husband to take measures to stop the story. He, together with the princess's brother Nikolai, decides to return the bracelet.
The scene of Prince Shein's visit to Zheltkov's apartment is one of the key scenes of the work. A.I. Kuprin appears here as a true master realist in creating a psychological portrait. The image of telegraph operator Zheltkov is typical for Russian classical literature 19th century image of a small man. A notable detail in the story is the comparison of the hero’s room with the wardroom of a cargo ship. The character of the inhabitant of this humble dwelling is shown primarily through gesture. In the scene of the visit of Vasily Lvovich and Nikolai Nikolaevich, Zheltkov either rubs his hands in confusion, or nervously unbuttons and fastens the buttons of his short jacket (and this detail becomes repetitive in this scene). The hero is excited, he is unable to hide his feelings. However, as the conversation progresses, when Nikolai Nikolaevich voices a threat to turn to the authorities in order to protect Vera from persecution, Zheltkov suddenly transforms and even laughs. Love gives him strength, and he begins to feel that he is right. Kuprin focuses on the difference in mood between Nikolai Nikolaevich and Vasily Lvovich during the visit. Vera's husband, seeing his rival, suddenly becomes serious and reasonable. He tries to understand Zheltkov and says to his brother-in-law: “Kolya, is he really to blame for love and is it possible to control such a feeling as love - a feeling that has not yet found an interpreter.” Unlike Nikolai Nikolaevich, Shein allows Zheltkov to write to Vera farewell letter. A huge role in this scene for understanding the depth of Zheltkov’s feelings for Vera is played by a detailed portrait of the hero. His lips become white, like those of a dead man, his eyes fill with tears.
The theme of love in the story “Garnet Bracelet”
“Unrequited love does not humiliate a person, but elevates him.” Pushkin Alexander Sergeevich
According to many researchers, “everything in this story is masterfully written, starting with its title. The title itself is surprisingly poetic and sonorous. It sounds like a line of a poem written in iambic trimeter.”
The story is based on real case. In a letter to the editor of the magazine “God’s World” F.D. Batyushkov, Kuprin wrote in October 1910: “Do you remember this? - sad story the little telegraph official P.P. Zholtikov, who was hopelessly, touchingly and selflessly in love with Lyubimov’s wife (D.N. is now the governor in Vilna). So far I’ve just come up with an epigraph..." (L. van Beethoven. Son no. 2, op. 2. Largo Appassionato). Although the work is based on real events, the ending of the story - Zheltkov's suicide - is the writer's creative speculation. It was not by chance that Kuprin completed his story tragic ending, he needed such an ending in order to further highlight the power of Zheltkov’s love for a woman almost unknown to him - a love that happens “once in a thousand years.”
Working on the story greatly influenced Alexander Ivanovich’s state of mind. “I recently told one good actress,” he wrote in a letter to F.D. Batyushkov in December 1910, “about the plot of his work - I’m crying, I’ll say one thing, that I have never written anything more chaste.”
The main character of the story is Princess Vera Nikolaevna Sheina. The story takes place on Black Sea resort in the fall, namely September 17 - Vera Nikolaevna’s name day.
The first chapter is an introduction, which has the task of preparing the reader for the necessary perception of subsequent events. Kuprin describes nature. In Kuprin's descriptions of nature there are many sounds, colors and, especially, smells. The landscape is highly emotional and unlike any other. Thanks to the description of the autumn landscape with its empty dachas and flower beds, you feel the inevitability of withering surrounding nature, withering of the world. Kuprin draws a parallel between the description autumn garden and the internal state of the main character: coldish autumn landscape fading nature is similar in essence to the mood of Vera Nikolaevna Sheina. From it we predict her calm, unapproachable character. Nothing attracts her in this life, perhaps that is why the brightness of her being is enslaved by everyday life and dullness.
The author describes main character like this: “...took after her mother, a beautiful Englishwoman, with her tall, flexible figure, gentle, but cold and proud face, beautiful, although rather big hands, and that charming sloping shoulders that can be seen in ancient miniatures...” Vera could not be imbued with a sense of beauty in the world around her. She was not a natural romantic. And, having seen something out of the ordinary, some feature, I tried (even if involuntarily) to ground it, to compare it with the world around me. Her life flowed slowly, measuredly, quietly, and, it would seem, satisfied the principles of life without going beyond them.
Vera Nikolaevna's husband was Prince Vasily Lvovich Shein. He was the leader of the nobility. Vera Nikolaevna married the prince, an exemplary, quiet man like herself. Previous passionate love Vera Nikolaevna's relationship with her husband turned into a feeling of lasting, faithful, true friendship. The couple, despite their high position in society, barely made ends meet. Since she had to live above her means, Vera saved unnoticed by her husband, remaining worthy of her title.
On her name day, her closest friends come to visit Vera. According to Kuprin, “Vera Nikolaevna Sheina always expected something happy and wonderful from her name day.” Her younger sister, Anna Nikolaevna Friesse, arrived before everyone else. “She was half a head shorter, somewhat broad in the shoulders, lively and frivolous, a mocker. Her face was of a strongly Mongolian type with quite noticeable cheekbones, with narrow eyes... captivated by some elusive and incomprehensible charm...". She was the complete opposite of Vera Nikolaevna. The sisters loved each other very much. Anna was married to a very rich and very stupid person, who did absolutely nothing, but was registered with some charitable institution. She could not stand her husband, Gustav Ivanovich, but gave birth to two children from him - a boy and a girl. Vera Nikolaevna really wanted to have children, but she didn’t have them. Anna constantly flirted in all the capitals and resorts of Europe, but she never cheated on her husband.
On her name day, her younger sister gave Vera a small notebook in an amazing binding as a gift. Vera Nikolaevna really liked the gift. As for Vera’s husband, he gave her earrings made of pear-shaped pearls. writer kuprin story love
The guests arrive in the evening. Everyone characters With the exception of Zheltkov, the main character who is in love with Princess Sheina, Kuprin gathers the Shein family at the dacha. The princess receives expensive gifts from her guests. The name day celebration was fun until Vera notices that there are thirteen guests. Since she was superstitious, this alarms her. But so far there are no signs of trouble.
Among the guests, Kuprin singles out the old General Anosov, a comrade in arms with the father of Vera and Anna. The author describes him as follows: “A corpulent, tall, silvery old man, he climbed heavily from the step... He had a large, rough, red face with a fleshy nose and with that good-natured, stately, slightly contemptuous expression in his narrowed eyes... which is characteristic of courageous and ordinary people..."
Also present at the name day was Vera’s brother, Nikolai Nikolaevich Mirza-Bulat-Tuganovsky. He always defended his opinion and was ready to stand up for his family.
According to tradition, the guests played poker. Vera did not join the game: she was called by the maid, who handed her a package. Having unwrapped the package, Vera discovered a case containing a gold bracelet with stones and a note. “...gold, low-grade, very thick... on the outside completely covered... with garnets” bracelet. It looks like a tacky trinket next to the expensive, elegant gifts that guests gave her. The note tells about the bracelet, that it is a family jewel, possessing magical power, and what is it expensive thing, which the donor has. At the end of the letter were the initials G.S.Zh., and Vera realized that this was the secret admirer who had been writing to her for seven years. This bracelet becomes a symbol of his hopeless, enthusiastic, selfless, reverent love. Thus, this person is at least somehow trying to connect himself with Vera Nikolaevna. It was enough for him just that her hands touched his gift.
Looking at the deep red garnets, Vera felt alarmed; she sensed the approach of something unpleasant and saw some kind of omen in this bracelet. It is no coincidence that she immediately compares these red stones with blood: “Exactly blood!” - she exclaims. Vera Nikolaevna's calm was disturbed. Vera considered Zheltkov “unfortunate”; she could not understand the tragedy of this love. The expression “happy unhappy person” turned out to be somewhat contradictory. After all, in his feeling for Vera, Zheltkov experienced happiness.
Before the guests leave, Vera decides not to talk about the gift to her husband. Meanwhile, her husband entertains the guests with stories in which there is very little truth. Among these stories is the story of an unhappy lover in Vera Nikolaevna, who allegedly sent her passionate letters every day, and then became a monk; after dying, he bequeathed to Vera two buttons and a bottle of perfume with his tears.
And only now are we learning about Zheltkov, despite the fact that he main character. None of the guests have ever seen him, do not know his name, it is only known (judging by the letters) that he serves as a minor official and some kind of mysteriously she always knows where she is and what Vera Nikolaevna is doing. The story says practically nothing about Zheltkov himself. We learn about it thanks to small details. But even these minor details used by the author in his narrative indicate a lot. We understand that inner world This extraordinary man was very, very rich. This man was not like others, he was not mired in wretched and dull everyday life, his soul strived for the beautiful and sublime.
Evening is coming. Many guests leave, leaving General Anosov, who talks about his life. He tells his love story, which he will remember forever - short and simple, which in the retelling seems like just a vulgar adventure of an army officer. “I don’t see true love. I haven’t seen it in my time either!” - says the general and gives examples of ordinary, obscene unions of people concluded for one reason or another. “Where is the love? Is love unselfish, selfless, not waiting for reward? The one about which it is said “strong as death”?.. Love should be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world! No life conveniences, calculations or compromises should concern her.” It was Anosov who formulated the main idea of the story: “Love must be...” and to some extent expressed Kuprin’s opinion.
Anosov talks about similarities to such love tragic cases. A conversation about love led Anosov to the story of a telegraph operator. At first he assumed that Zheltkov was a maniac, and only then decided that Zheltkov’s love was real: “...maybe yours life path, Verochka, crossed exactly the kind of love that women dream about and that men are no longer capable of.”
When only Vera’s husband and brother remained in the house, she told about Zheltkov’s gift. Vasily Lvovich and Nikolai Nikolaevich treated Zheltkov’s gift with extreme disdain, laughed at his letters, mocked his feelings. The garnet bracelet causes violent indignation in Nikolai Nikolaevich; it is worth noting that he was extremely irritated by the act of the young official, and Vasily Lvovich, due to his character, took it more calmly.
Nikolai Nikolaevich is worried about Vera. He doesn't believe in pure platonic love Zheltkov, suspecting him of the most vulgar adultery. If she had accepted the gift, Zheltkov would have begun to brag to his friends, he could have hoped for something more, he would have given her expensive gifts: “... a ring with diamonds, a pearl necklace...”, wasting government money, and then everything could have ended court, where the Sheins would be called as witnesses. The Shein family would have found themselves in a ridiculous position, their name would have been disgraced.
Vera herself did not attach special significance to the letters and did not have feelings for her mysterious admirer. She was somewhat flattered by his attention. Vera thought that Zheltkov’s letters were just an innocent joke. She does not attach the same importance to them as her brother Nikolai Nikolaevich does.
Vera Nikolaevna's husband and brother decide to give the gift to the secret admirer and ask him to never write to Vera again, to forget about her forever. But how to do this if they did not know either the name, surname, or address of the admirer of the Faith? Nikolai Nikolaevich and Vasily Lvovich find a admirer by their initials in the lists of city employees. Now they become aware that the mysterious G.S.Zh. is a petty official Georgy Zheltkov. Vera's brother and husband go to his home for important conversation with Zheltkov, who subsequently decides everything future fate George.
Zheltkov lived under the roof in one poor house: “the spit-stained staircase smelled of mice, cats, kerosene and laundry... The room was very low, but very wide and long, almost square shape. Two round windows, quite similar to steamship portholes, barely illuminated her. And the whole place looked like the wardroom of a cargo ship. Along one wall there was a narrow bed, along the other a very large and wide sofa, covered with a frayed beautiful Tekin carpet, in the middle there was a table covered with a colored Little Russian tablecloth.” So accurate detailed description Kuprin notes the atmosphere in which Zheltkov lives for a reason; the author shows the inequality between Princess Vera and the petty official Zheltkov. Between them there are insurmountable social barriers and partitions of class inequality. Exactly different social status and Vera’s marriage make Zheltkov’s love unrequited.
Kuprin develops the traditional theme of the “little man” in Russian literature. Official with funny last name Yolks, quiet and inconspicuous, not only grows into tragic hero, he, by the power of his love, rises above the petty vanity, life’s conveniences, and decency. He turns out to be a man in no way inferior in nobility to aristocrats. Love elevated him. Love gives Zheltkov “tremendous happiness.” Love has become suffering, the only meaning of life. Zheltkov did not demand anything for his love; his letters to the princess were just a desire to speak out, to convey his feelings to his beloved being.
Finding themselves in Zheltkov’s room, Nikolai Nikolaevich and Vasily Lvovich finally see Vera’s admirer. The author describes him this way: “...he was tall, thin, with long fluffy, soft hair... very pale, with a gentle girlish face, with blue eyes and a stubborn childish chin with a dimple in the middle; He must have been about thirty, thirty-five years old...” Zheltkov, as soon as Nikolai Nikolaevich and Vasily Lvovich introduced themselves, became very nervous and scared, but after a while he calmed down. The men return his bracelet to Zheltkov with a request not to repeat such things again. Zheltkov himself understands and admits that he did something stupid by sending Vera a garnet bracelet.
Zheltkov admits to Vasily Lvovich that he has loved his wife for seven years. By some whim of fate, Vera Nikolaevna once seemed to Zheltkov to be an amazing, completely unearthly creature. And a strong, bright feeling flared up in his heart. He was always at some distance from his beloved, and, obviously, this distance contributed to the strength of his passion. He could not forget the beautiful image of the princess, and he was not stopped at all by the indifference on the part of his beloved.
Nikolai Nikolaevich gives Zheltkov two options further actions: either he forgets Vera forever and never writes to her again, or, if he does not give up the persecution, measures will be taken against him. Zheltkov asks to call Vera to say goodbye to her. Although Nikolai Nikolaevich was against the call, Prince Shein allowed it to be done. But the conversation failed: Vera Nikolaevna did not want to talk to Zheltkov. Returning to the room, Zheltkov looked upset, his eyes were filled with tears. He asked permission to write a farewell letter to Vera, after which he would disappear from their lives forever, and again Prince Shein allows this to be done.
Relatives of Princess Vera recognized in Zheltkov noble man: brother Nikolai Nikolaevich: “I immediately recognized you as a noble man”; husband Prince Vasily Lvovich: “this man is incapable of deceiving and knowingly lying.”
Returning home, Vasily Lvovich tells Vera in detail about his meeting with Zheltkov. She was alarmed and uttered the following phrase: “I know that this man will kill himself.” Vera already foresaw the tragic outcome of this situation.
The next morning, Vera Nikolaevna reads in the newspaper that Zheltkov committed suicide. The newspaper wrote that the death occurred due to embezzlement of government money. This is what the suicide wrote in his posthumous letter.
Throughout the entire story, Kuprin tries to instill in readers “the concept of love on the brink of life,” and he does this through Zheltkov, for him love is life, therefore, no love, no life. And when Vera’s husband persistently asks to stop loving, his life ends. Is love worthy of the loss of life, the loss of everything that can be in the world? Everyone must answer this question for themselves - does he want this, what is more valuable to him - life or love? Zheltkov answered: love. Well, what about the price of life, because life is the most precious thing we have, it is what we are so afraid of losing, and on the other hand, love is the meaning of our life, without which it will not be life, but will be an empty phrase. One involuntarily recalls the words of I. S. Turgenev: “Love... stronger than death and fear of death."
Zheltkov fulfilled Vera’s request to “stop this whole story” in the only way possible for him. That same evening, Vera receives a letter from Zheltkov.
This is what the letter said: “... It so happened that I am not interested in anything in life: neither politics, nor science, nor philosophy, nor concern for the future happiness of people - for me, my whole life lies only in you... My love is not an illness, not a manic idea, it is a reward from God... If you ever think of me, then play the sonata by L. van Beethoven. Son No. 2, op. 2. Largo Appassionato...” Zheltkov also deified his beloved in the letter; his prayer was addressed to her: “Hallowed be Thy name.” However, despite all this, Princess Vera was ordinary earthly woman. So her deification is a figment of poor Zheltkov’s imagination.
It’s a pity that nothing in life interested him except her. I think you can’t live like this, you can’t just suffer and dream about your beloved, but unattainable. Life is a game, and each of us must play our role, manage to do it in such a short period of time, manage to become positive or negative hero, but under no circumstances remain indifferent to everything except her, the only one, the beautiful one.
Zheltkov thinks that this is his destiny - to love madly, but unrequitedly, that it is impossible to escape from fate. If it weren’t for this last thing, he would undoubtedly have tried to do something, to escape from the feeling doomed to death.
Yes, I think I should have run. Run without looking back. Set a long-term goal and plunge headlong into work. I had to force myself to forget my crazy love. It was necessary to at least try to avoid its tragic outcome.
With all his desire, he could not have power over his soul, in which the image of the princess occupied too large a place. Zheltkov idealized his beloved, he knew nothing about her, so he painted a completely unearthly image in his imagination. And this also reveals the originality of his nature. His love could not be discredited, tarnished precisely because it was too far from real life. Zheltkov never met his beloved, his feelings remained a mirage, they were not connected with reality. And in this regard, the lover Zheltkov appears before the reader as a dreamer, romantic and idealist, divorced from life.
He endowed best qualities a woman about whom I knew absolutely nothing. Perhaps if fate had given Zheltkov at least one meeting with the princess, he would have changed his opinion about her. At the very least, she would not seem to him an ideal creature, absolutely devoid of flaws. But, alas, the meeting turned out to be impossible.
Anosov said: “Love must be a tragedy...”, if you approach love with exactly this yardstick, then it becomes clear that Zheltkov’s love is exactly like that. He easily puts his feelings for the beautiful princess above everything else in the world. In essence, life itself has no special value for Zheltkov. And, probably, the reason for this is the lack of demand for his love, because Mr. Zheltkov’s life is not decorated with anything except feelings for the princess. At the same time, the princess herself lives a completely different life, in which there is no place for the lover Zheltkov. And she doesn't want the flow of these letters to continue. The princess is not interested in her unknown admirer; she is happy without him. All the more surprising and even strange is Zheltkov, who consciously cultivates his passion for Vera Nikolaevna.
Can Zheltkov be called a sufferer who lived his life uselessly, giving himself up as a sacrifice to some amazing soulless love? On the one hand, he appears exactly like that. He was ready to give the life of his beloved, but no one needed such a sacrifice. The garnet bracelet itself is a detail that even more clearly emphasizes the whole tragedy of this man. He is ready to part with a family heirloom, an ornament passed down by inheritance from the women of his family. Zheltkov is ready to give his only jewel to a completely stranger, and she did not need this gift at all.
Can Zheltkov’s feeling for Vera Nikolaevna be called madness? Prince Shein answers this question in the book: “... I feel that I am present at some enormous tragedy of the soul, and I cannot clown around here... I will say that he loved you, and was not crazy at all...”. And I agree with his opinion.
The psychological climax of the story is Vera’s farewell to the deceased Zheltkov, their only “date” is a turning point in her internal state. On the face of the deceased she read “deep importance, ... as if, before parting with life, he had learned some deep and sweet secret that resolved his entire human life,” a “blessed and serene” smile, “peace.” “At that second she realized that the love that every woman dreams of had passed her by.”
You can immediately ask the question: did Vera love anyone at all? Or the word love in its interpretation is nothing more than the concept of marital duty, marital fidelity, and not feelings for another person. Vera probably loved only one person: her sister, who was everything to her. She did not love her husband, not to mention Zheltkov, whom she had never seen alive.
Was there a need for Vera to go and look at the dead Zheltkov? Perhaps it was an attempt to somehow assert herself, not to torment herself for the rest of her life with remorse, to look at the one she abandoned. Understand that there will be nothing like this in her life. What we started from is what we came to - before he was looking for meetings with her, and now she came to him. And who is to blame for what happened - himself or his love.
Love dried him up, took away all the best that was in his nature. But she gave nothing in return. Therefore, the unhappy person has nothing else left. Obviously, by the death of the hero, Kuprin wanted to express his attitude towards his love. Zheltkov is, of course, a unique, very special person. Therefore it is very difficult for him to live among ordinary people. It turns out that there is no place for him on this earth. And this is his tragedy, and not his fault at all.
Of course, his love can be called a unique, wonderful, amazingly beautiful phenomenon. Yes, such a selfless and amazing pure love is very rare. But it’s still good that it happens this way. After all, such love goes hand in hand with tragedy, it ruins a person’s life. And the beauty of the soul remains unclaimed, no one knows about it or notices it.
When Princess Sheina came home, she performed last wish Zheltkova. She asks her pianist friend Jenny Reiter to play something for her. Vera has no doubt that the pianist will perform exactly the place in the sonata that Zheltkov asked for. Her thoughts and music merged together, and she heard as if the verses ended with the words: “Hallowed be Thy name.”
“Hallowed be Thy name” sounds like a refrain in the last part of “Garnet Bracelet”. A person has passed away, but love has not left. It seemed to dissipate in the surrounding world and merged with Beethoven’s Sonata No. 2 Largo Appassionato. Under passionate sounds music, the heroine feels the painful and beautiful birth of a new world in her soul, feels a feeling of deep gratitude to the man who put love for her above everything in his life, even above life itself. She understands that he has forgiven her. The story ends on this tragic note.
However, despite the sad ending, Kuprin’s hero is happy. He believes that the love that illuminated his life is a truly wonderful feeling. And I no longer know whether this love is so naive and reckless. And maybe she really is worth giving up your life and desire for life for her. After all, she is beautiful like the moon, clear like the sky, bright like the sun, constant like nature. Such is knightly romantic love Zheltkova to Princess Vera Nikolaevna, who absorbed his entire being. Zheltkov departs this life without complaints, without reproaches, saying like a prayer: “Hallowed be Thy name.” It is impossible to read these lines without tears. And it’s unclear why tears are rolling from my eyes. Either it’s just pity for the unfortunate Zheltkov (after all, life could have been wonderful for him too), or admiration for the splendor of the little man’s enormous feelings.
I would so much like this fairy tale about the all-forgiving and strong love, created by I. A. Kuprin. I would like so much that cruel reality could never defeat our sincere feelings, our love. We must multiply it, be proud of it. Love, true love, you need to study diligently, like the most painstaking science. However, love does not come if you wait for its appearance every minute, and at the same time, it does not flare up out of nowhere.
The theme of love in A. I. Kuprin’s story “The Garnet Bracelet”
(“The disease of love is incurable...”)
Love... is stronger than death and the fear of death. Only by her, only by love does life hold and move.
I.S. Turgenev.
Love... A word denoting the most reverent, tender, romantic and inspired feeling inherent in a person. However, people often confuse love with being in love. A real feeling takes possession of a person’s entire being, sets all his forces in motion, inspires the most incredible actions, evokes the best intentions, excites creative imagination. But love is not always joy, mutual feeling, happiness given to two. This is also a disappointment unrequited love. A person cannot stop loving at will.
Every great artist devoted many pages to this “eternal” topic. A.I. Kuprin did not ignore it either. Throughout his career, the writer showed great interest in everything beautiful, strong, sincere and natural. He considered love to be one of the great joys of life. His stories and short stories “Olesya”, “Shulamith”, “Garnet Bracelet” tell about perfect love, pure, limitless, beautiful and powerful.
In Russian literature, perhaps, there is no stronger emotional impact on the reader of the work than “Garnet Bracelet”. Kuprin touches on the theme of love chastely, reverently and at the same time nervously. Otherwise, you can’t touch her.
Sometimes it seems that everything has been said about love in world literature. Is it possible to talk about love after “Tristan and Isolde”, after the sonnets of Petrarch and “Romeo and Juliet” by Shakespeare, after Pushkin’s poem “For the Shores of the Distant Fatherland”, Lermontov’s “Don’t Laugh at My Prophetic Melancholy”, after Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” and Chekhov's "Lady with a Dog"? But love has thousands of aspects, and each of them has its own light, its own joy, its own happiness, its own sadness and pain, and its own fragrance.
The story “The Garnet Bracelet” is one of the most sad works about love. Kuprin admitted that he cried over the manuscript. And if a work makes the author and reader cry, then this speaks of the deep vitality of what the writer created and his great talent. Kuprin has many works about love, about the expectation of love, about its touching outcomes, about its poetry, longing and eternal youth. He always and everywhere blessed love. The theme of the story “The Garnet Bracelet” is love to the point of self-abasement, to the point of self-denial. But the interesting thing is that love strikes the most ordinary person - the office official Zheltkov. Such love, it seems to me, was given to him from above as a reward for a joyless existence. The hero of the story is no longer young, and his love for Princess Vera Sheina gave meaning to his life, filled it with inspiration and joy. This love was meaning and happiness only for Zheltkov. Princess Vera considered him crazy. She did not know his last name and had never seen this man. He just sent her greeting cards and wrote letters, signing G.S.Zh.
But one day, on the princess’s name day, Zheltkov decided to be bold: he sent her an antique bracelet with beautiful garnets as a gift. Fearing that her name may be compromised, Vera's brother insists on returning the bracelet to its owner, and her husband and Vera agree.
In a fit of nervous excitement, Zheltkov confesses to Prince Shein his love for his wife. This confession touches to the core: “I know that I can never stop loving her. What would you do to end this feeling? Send me to another city? All the same, I will love Vera Nikolaevna there just as much as I do here. Put me in jail? But even there I will find a way to let her know about my existence. There is only one thing left - death..." Love for for many years has become a disease incurable disease. She absorbed his entire essence without a trace. Zheltkov lived only by this love. Even if Princess Vera didn’t know him, even if he couldn’t reveal his feelings to her, couldn’t possess her... That’s not the main thing. The main thing is that he loved her with a sublime, platonic, pure love. It was enough for him to just see her sometimes and know that she was doing well.
Zheltkov wrote the last words of love for the one who was the meaning of his life for many years in his suicide letter. It is impossible to read this letter without heavy emotional excitement, in which the refrain sounds hysterically and amazingly: “Hallowed be thy name!” special power What gives the story is that love appears in it as an unexpected gift of fate, poeticized and illuminating life. Lyubov Zheltkova is like a ray of light among everyday life, among sober reality and established life. There is no cure for such love, it is incurable. Only death can serve as deliverance. This love is confined to one person and carries destructive power. “It so happened that I am not interested in anything in life: neither politics, nor science, nor philosophy, nor concerns about the future happiness of people,” Zheltkov writes in a letter, “for me, all life lies in you.” This feeling crowds out all other thoughts from the hero’s consciousness.
The autumn landscape, the silent sea, empty dachas, and the grassy smell of the last flowers add special strength and bitterness to the story.
Love, according to Kuprin, is passion, it is a strong and real feeling that elevates a person, awakening the best qualities of his soul; it is truthfulness and honesty in relationships. The writer put his thoughts about love into the mouth of General Anosov: “Love should be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world. No life conveniences, calculations or compromises should concern her.”
It seems to me that today it is almost impossible to find such love. Lyubov Zheltkova - romantic worship of a woman, knightly service to her. Princess Vera realized that true love, which is given to a person only once in a lifetime and which every woman dreams of, passed her by.
"Garnet Bracelet"
Story by A.I. Kuprin's "Garnet Bracelet", published in 1910, is one of the most poetic works of art Russian literature of the 20th century. It opens with an epigraph referring the reader to the famous work of J1. van Beethoven - sonata "Appassionata". The author returns to the same musical theme at the end of the story. The first chapter is a detailed landscape sketch, revealing the contradictory variability of the natural elements. In it A.I. Kuprin introduces us to the image of the main character - Princess Vera Nikolaevna Sheina, the wife of the leader of the nobility. At first glance, a woman’s life seems calm and carefree. Despite the financial difficulties, Vera and her husband have an atmosphere of friendship and mutual understanding in their family. Only one small detail alarms the reader: on her name day, her husband gives Vera earrings made of pear-shaped pearls. Doubt involuntarily creeps in that the heroine’s family happiness is so strong, so indestructible.
On Sheina’s name day, her younger sister comes to visit her, who, like Pushkin’s Olga, who sets off the image of Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, sharply contrasts with Vera both in character and in appearance. Anna is playful and wasteful, and Vera is calm, reasonable and economical. Anna is attractive but ugly, while Vera is endowed with aristocratic beauty. Anna has two children, but Vera has no children, although she passionately desires to have them. An important artistic detail that reveals Anna’s character is the gift she gives to her sister: Anna brings Vera a small notebook made from an old prayer book. She enthusiastically talks about how she carefully selected leaves, clasps and a pencil for the book. To faith, the very fact of converting a prayer book into a notebook seems blasphemous. This shows the integrity of her nature and emphasizes how much more seriously the older sister takes life. We soon learn that Vera graduated from the Smolny Institute - one of the best educational institutions for women in noble Russia, and her friend is the famous pianist Zhenya Reiter.
Among the guests who arrived for the name day, General Anosov is an important figure. It is this man, wise in life, who has seen danger and death in his lifetime, and therefore knows the value of life, who tells in the story several stories about love, which can be described in artistic structure works as inserted novellas. Unlike the vulgar family stories told by Prince Vasily Lvovich, Vera’s husband and the owner of the house, where everything is twisted and ridiculed and turns into a farce, General Anosov’s stories are filled with real life details. This is how a dispute arises in the story about what true love is. Anosov says that people have forgotten how to love, that marriage does not at all imply spiritual closeness and warmth. Women often get married to get out of care and be the mistress of the house. Men are tired of single life. A significant role in marriages is played by the desire to continue the family line, and selfish motives are often not in last place. “Where is the love?” - asks Anosov. He is interested in the kind of love for which “to accomplish any feat, to give one’s life, to undergo torment is not work at all, but one joy.” Here, in the words of General Kuprin, in essence, reveals his concept of love: “Love must be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world. No life conveniences, calculations or compromises should concern her.” Anosov talks about how people become victims of their love feelings, about love triangles, which exist contrary to all meaning.
Against this background, the story examines the love story of telegraph operator Zheltkov for Princess Vera. This feeling flared up when Vera was still free. But she did not reciprocate his feelings. Contrary to all logic, Zheltkov did not stop dreaming about his beloved, wrote tender letters to her, and even sent her a gift for her name day - a gold bracelet with garnets that looked like droplets of blood. An expensive gift forces Vera’s husband to take measures to stop the story. He, together with the princess's brother Nikolai, decides to return the bracelet.
The scene of Prince Shein's visit to Zheltkov's apartment is one of the key scenes of the work. A.I. Kuprin appears here as a genuine master-artist in the creation psychological portrait. The image of the telegraph operator Zheltkov is typical of Russian classical literature of the 19th century century image of a small man. A notable detail in the story is the comparison of the hero’s room with the wardroom of a cargo ship. The character of the inhabitant of this humble dwelling is shown primarily through gesture. In the scene of the visit of Vasily Lvovich and Nikolai Nikolaevich, Zheltkov either rubs his hands in confusion, or nervously unbuttons and fastens the buttons of his short jacket (and this detail becomes repetitive in this scene). The hero is excited, he is unable to hide his feelings. However, as the conversation progresses, when Nikolai Nikolaevich voices a threat to turn to the authorities in order to protect Vera from persecution, Zheltkov suddenly transforms and even laughs. Love gives him strength, and he begins to feel that he is right. Kuprin focuses on the difference in mood between Nikolai Nikolaevich and Vasily Lvovich during the visit. Vera's husband, seeing his rival, suddenly becomes serious and reasonable. He tries to understand Zheltkov and says to his brother-in-law: “Kolya, is he really to blame for love and is it possible to control such a feeling as love - a feeling that has not yet found an interpreter.” Unlike Nikolai Nikolaevich, Shane allows Zheltkov to write a farewell letter to Vera. A huge role in this scene for understanding the depth of Zheltkov’s feelings for Vera is played by a detailed portrait of the hero. His lips become white, like those of a dead man, his eyes fill with tears.
Zheltkov calls Vera and asks her for a small thing - for the opportunity to see her at least occasionally, without appearing in front of her. These meetings could have given his life at least some meaning, but Vera refused him this too. Her reputation and the peace of her family were more valuable to her. She showed cold indifference to Zheltkov’s fate. The telegraph operator found himself defenseless against Vera’s decision. The strength of love and maximum spiritual openness made him vulnerable. Kuprin constantly emphasizes this defenselessness with portrait details: a child’s chin, a gentle girl’s face.
In the eleventh chapter of the story, the author emphasizes the motive of fate. Princess Vera, who never read newspapers for fear of getting her hands dirty, suddenly unfolds the very sheet on which the announcement of Zheltkov’s suicide was printed. This fragment of the work is intertwined with the scene in which General Anosov says to Vera: “...Who knows? “Maybe your path in life, Verochka, has been crossed by exactly the kind of love that women dream about and that men are no longer capable of.” It is no coincidence that the princess recalls these words again. It seems that Zheltkov was really sent to Vera by fate, and she could not discern selfless nobility, subtlety and beauty in the soul of a simple telegraph operator.
A unique plot structure in the works of A.I. Kuprin lies in the fact that the author gives the reader peculiar signs that help to predict further development narratives. In “Oles” this is the motive of fortune-telling, in accordance with which all further relationships between the characters develop; in “The Duel” it is the officers’ conversation about a duel. In “The Garnet Bracelet” there is a sign foreshadowing tragic ending, is the bracelet itself, the stones of which look like droplets of blood.
Upon learning of Zheltkov’s death, Vera realizes that she foresaw a tragic outcome. In his farewell message to his beloved, Zheltkov does not hide his all-consuming passion. He literally deifies Faith, turning to her the words from the prayer “Our Father...”: “Hallowed be Thy name.”
In literature " Silver Age“God-fighting motives were strong. Zheltkov, deciding to commit suicide, commits the greatest Christian sin, because the church prescribes to endure any spiritual and physical torment sent to a person on earth. But with the entire course of development of the plot, A.I. Kuprin justifies Zheltkov’s action. It is no coincidence that the main character of the story is named Vera. For Zheltkov, thus, the concepts of “love” and “faith” merge together. Before his death, the hero asks the landlady to hang a bracelet on the icon.
Looking at the late Zheltkov, Vera is finally convinced that there was truth in Anosov’s words. By his action, the poor telegraph operator was able to reach the heart of the cold beauty and touch her. Vera brings Zheltkov a red rose and kisses him on the forehead with a long, friendly kiss. Only after death did the hero receive the right to attention and respect for his feelings. Only own death he proved the true depth of his experiences (before that, Vera considered him crazy).
Anosov's words about eternal, exclusive love become the running theme of the story. The last time they are remembered in the story is when, at Zheltkov’s request, Vera listens to Beethoven’s second sonata (“Appassionata”). At the end of the story by A.I. Kuprin sounds another repetition: “Hallowed be Thy name,” which is no less significant in the artistic structure of the work. He once again emphasizes the purity and sublimity of Zheltkov’s attitude towards his beloved.
Putting love on a par with such concepts as death, faith, A.I. Kuprin emphasizes the importance of this concept for human life as a whole. Not all people know how to love and remain faithful to their feelings. The story “The Garnet Bracelet” can be considered as a kind of testament to A.I. Kuprin, addressed to those who are trying to live not with their hearts, but with their minds. Their life, correct from the point of view of a rational approach, is doomed to a spiritually devastated existence, for only love can give a person true happiness.
Composition
The theme of love is one of the fundamental themes of world literature. Every writer certainly paid tribute to her. The wonderful Russian writer A.I. Kuprin illuminated it in his own way in his story The Garnet Bracelet, which K. Paustovsky called one of the most fragrant stories about love.
The plot of the story was taken by Kuprin from life. But the comic story of the real G.S.Zh. turned under the pen of a talented writer into a touching song of love.
The story begins in a decidedly ordinary way. The life of two spouses, in which the former passionate love... turned into friendship, empty talk about the need to morally raise vicious children. But already at the beginning of the story, some kind of anxiety is felt. The sister gives Princess Vera, the heroine of the story, a lady's notebook, converted from a prayer book of the 17th century, and Vera feels some unusual feeling.
For festive table In connection with Verochka's name day, thirteen people are gathering, and she feels that this is not good. And then General Anosov begins to talk about what modern life love is gone, unselfish, selfless, not expecting a reward. All this is a kind of prologue to the main event: Princess Vera is brought a letter and a garnet bracelet from the unknown G.S.Zh. This is how the theme of love as a tragedy, as the greatest secret in the world, enters the story.
It is characteristic that this great love flared up in the heart of a simple official Zheltkov. In other words, eternal theme love turns out to be connected with the theme of the little man, to which Pushkin, Gogol, and Dostoevsky paid tribute in their time.
Little man Kuprin evokes neither pity nor a condescending smile. Zheltkov is beautiful in his pure and great love. This love became his need, the meaning of life. In his suicide letter to Vera, he admits: This is not a disease, not a manic idea, this is love with which God wanted to reward me for something... Leaving, I say in delight: “Hallowed be your name».
The symbol of this love becomes a garnet bracelet, so carelessly given by Zheltkov to Verochka. However, the bracelet is not only a symbol of love, it is also a symbol of fate.
The green pomegranate, according to legend, protects men... from violent death, and gives women the gift of foresight. Zheltkov gives the bracelet and dies because his secret love became obvious and encountered the cruelty of people. “Vera, having received the bracelet, recognized this greatest secret love. Standing at Zheltkov’s coffin, she was struck by the peaceful expression on his face, as if before his death he had learned some deep and sweet secret, and remembered that she had seen a similar expression on death masks great sufferers Pushkin and Napoleon.
Which important detail! Great love raised a little official to the level of a genius!
Two elements occupy a large place in the story: music and nature. The brilliant autumn landscape, the grassy smell of the last flowers, the gray and silent sea - all this, with its farewell chords, conveys the bitterness of parting to the story: It was even sadder to see the abandoned dachas with their sudden spaciousness, with disfigured flower beds... The calmed trees silently and obediently dropped their yellow leaves.
Music appears in the story as a force that helps a person to see clearly. Listening to a sonata by the great Beethoven, my favorite piece of music Zheltkova, handed over to her beloved woman as a will, Verochka hears the voice of a man in love with her: Think about me, and I will be with you, because you and I love each other only for one moment, but forever.
Princess Vera realized that the love that every woman dreams of had passed her by. But that’s not why she’s crying, she’s simply overwhelmed with admiration for these sublime, almost unearthly feelings. Peru Kuprin wrote many works about love, but in none of them, in my opinion, will we find such psychological depth of comprehension of this feeling as in the Garnet Bracelet
The story by A. I. Kuprin, The Garnet Bracelet, amazes the reader with the depth of feelings of one of the characters, as well as with the question that the author poses in the work, what is love? At all times, people have tried to find an answer to the question of the reasons for this passionate feeling. But there is no universal answer. Every person throughout own life answers the question about love in his own way. And the petty official Zheltkov, who dared to love Princess Vera Nikolaevna, seems to be both a victim of fate and an amazing, exalted person, not at all similar to those around him.
Indeed, selfless love is a completely unique phenomenon that is very, very rare. It is no coincidence that Princess Vera Nikolaevna, being at the coffin of Zheltkov, who was in love with her, realized that the love that every woman dreams of had passed her by.
The story says practically nothing about Zheltkov himself. The reader learns about him through small details. But even these minor details used by the author in his narrative indicate a lot. We understand that the inner world of this extraordinary person was very, very rich. This man was not like others, he was not mired in the wretched and dull everyday life, his. the soul strived for the beautiful and sublime.
What could be more beautiful and sublime than love itself. By some whim of fate, Vera Nikolaevna once seemed to Zheltkov to be an amazing, completely unearthly creature. And a strong, bright feeling flared up in his heart. He was always at some distance from his beloved, and, obviously, this distance contributed to the strength of his passion. He couldn't forget beautiful image princess, and he was not stopped at all by the indifference on the part of his beloved.
Zheltkov did not demand anything for his love; his letters to the princess were just a desire to speak out, to convey his feelings to his beloved being. Otherwise, love was the only treasure of the poor petty official. With all his desire, he could not have power over his soul, in which the image of the princess occupied too large a place. Zheltkov idealized his beloved, he knew nothing about her, so he painted a completely unearthly image in his imagination. And this also reveals the originality of his nature. His love could not be discredited or tarnished precisely because it was too far from real life. Zheltkov never met his beloved, his feelings remained a mirage, they were not connected with reality. And in this regard, the lover N Zheltkov appears before the reader as a dreamer, romantic and idealist, divorced from life.
He endowed the best qualities of a woman about whom he knew absolutely nothing. Perhaps if fate had given Zheltkov at least one meeting with the princess, he would have changed his opinion about her. At the very least, she would not seem to him an ideal creature, absolutely devoid of flaws. But, alas, the meeting turned out to be impossible.
Speaking about love, one cannot help but recall the conversation between General Anosov and Princess Vera Nikolaevna. The conversation concerns precisely this unique phenomenon of love. Anosov says: Love must be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world! No life conveniences, calculations and compromises should concern her!
If you approach love with exactly this yardstick, then it becomes clear that Zheltkov’s love is exactly like that. He easily puts his feelings for the beautiful princess above everything else in the world. In essence, life itself has no special value for Zheltkov. And, probably, the reason for this is the lack of demand for his love, because Mr. Zheltkov’s life is not decorated with anything except feelings for the princess. At the same time, the princess herself lives a completely different life, in which there is no place for the lover Zheltkov. Moreover, signs of attention on his part, that is, numerous letters, simply anger the lovely Vera Nikolaevna. And she doesn't want the flow of these letters to continue. The princess is not interested in her unknown admirer; she is happy without him. All the more surprising and even strange is Zheltkov, who consciously cultivates his passion for Vera Nikolaevna.
Is it possible to call Zheltkov a sufferer who lived his life uselessly, giving himself up as a sacrifice to some amazing soulless love? On the one hand, he appears exactly like that. He was ready to give the life of his beloved, but no one needed such a sacrifice. The garnet bracelet itself is a detail that even more clearly emphasizes the whole tragedy of this man. He is ready to part with a family heirloom, an ornament passed down by inheritance from the women of his family. Zheltkov is ready to give his only jewel to a completely stranger, and she did not need this gift at all.
The narrative is accompanied by additional illustrations love relationship different people. General Anosov tells Verochka the story of his marriage. At the same time, he admits that his feelings can be called anything but true love. He also talks about situations that he had to face in his own life. There is beauty in each of these stories. human feeling love appears in some perverted form.
The story of a young ensign and the wife of a regimental commander, and also the story captain's wife and Lieutenant Vishnyakov shows love in its most unsightly form. Each time the reader indignantly rejects the idea that such a relationship can be called love.
Love should be creative, not destructive. Love divorced from life evokes admiration, but nothing more. A person who is capable of such sublime feelings can be admired, one can consider him completely special and amazing. You can also feel sorry for him on a purely human level. After all, although his love brightened up his life, shone in the sky like a bright star, it did not allow Zheltkov to become happy man or at least make the object of your love happy.
That is why the death of the main character at the end of the story seems to be a completely natural outcome. Love dried him up, took away all the best that was in his nature. But she gave nothing in return. Therefore, the unhappy person has nothing else left. Obviously, by the death of the hero, Kuprin wanted to express his attitude towards his love. Zheltkov is, of course, a unique, very special person. Therefore, it is very difficult for him to live among ordinary people. It turns out that there is no place for him on this earth. And this is his tragedy, and not his fault at all. Zheltkov deified his beloved, his prayer was addressed to her: Hallowed be Thy name.
However, with all this, Princess Vera was an ordinary earthly woman who sincerely loved her husband. So her deification is a figment of poor Zheltkov’s imagination. Of course, his love can be called a unique, wonderful, amazingly beautiful phenomenon. When the princess listened to Beethoven's sonata, she simultaneously thought about what had passed her by great love, which repeats only once every thousand years. Yes, such selfless and amazingly pure love is very rare. But it’s still good that it happens this way. After all, such love goes hand in hand with tragedy, it ruins a person’s life. And the beauty of the soul remains unclaimed, no one knows about it or notices it.
