The name of the work is symbolic: the raven is a bird that pecks out the eyes and brain, that is, blinds and deprives the mind. We learn about such love from the story of the protagonist.

So, the rejected lover has a dream. He finds himself alone at night in a gloomy valley and meets a spirit there who warns him that the entrance to this valley is open to everyone who is attracted here by voluptuousness and recklessness, but to leave it is not easy, this will require intelligence and courage. Our hero is interested in the name of such an unusual place in which he found himself and hears in response: there are several options for the name of this valley - Labyrinth of Love, Enchanted Dol, Pigsty of Venus; and the inhabitants of these places are unfortunate, who once were at the Court of Love, but rejected by her and sent here to exile. The spirit promises to help the lover to get out of the maze if he is frank with him and tells the story of his love. We will find out the following.

A few months before the events described, our hero, a forty-year-old philosopher, a fine connoisseur and connoisseur of poetry, talked with his friend. It was about outstanding women. At first, the heroines of antiquity were mentioned, then the interlocutors switched to contemporaries. A friend began to praise one lady who was familiar, listing her virtues, and while he was ranting, our narrator thought to himself: "The lucky one is the one to whom the supportive Fortune will give the love of such a perfect lady." Secretly deciding to try his luck in this field, he began to ask how her name was, what her rank was, where she lived, and he received comprehensive answers to all questions. After parting with a friend, the hero immediately goes to where he hopes to meet her. Blinded by the beauty of the one about which he had only heard before, the philosopher realizes that he has fallen into the net of love, and decides to confess his feeling. He writes a letter and receives a response note, the essence and form of which leaves no doubt that his friend, who so ardently praised the natural mind and exquisite eloquence of a stranger, is either deceived into them or wants to deceive our hero. However, the flame that was raging in the chest of the lover did not go out at all, he understands that the purpose of the note is to push him into new letters, which he writes right there. But the answer - neither written nor oral - never gets.

An astonished spirit interrupts the narrator: “If things have not gone further, why did you burst into tears yesterday and invoked death with such deep sorrow?” The unfortunate replies that two reasons brought him to the brink of despair. Firstly, he realized how stupid he was, believing right away that a woman could have such high virtues, and, entangled in the nets of love, gave her freedom and subjugated reason, and without it his soul became a slave. Secondly, the deceived lover became disappointed in his beloved when he found out that she had revealed his love to others, and for this he considered her the most cruel and treacherous of women. She showed one of her many lovers the letters of our hero, mocking him like a cuckold. The lover spread gossip throughout Florence, and soon the unfortunate philosopher became a laughing stock in the city. The Spirit listened attentively and in response set forth its point of view. “I understood well,” he said, “how and whom you fell in love with and what made you so desperate. And now I’ll name two circumstances that can lead you into reproach: your age and your occupation. It was they who were supposed to teach you caution and warn against love temptations. You should have known that love drains the soul, misleads reason, takes memory, destroys abilities. ” I experienced all this on myself, ”he continued. - My second wife, having well mastered the art of deception, entered my house under the guise of a meek dove, but soon turned into a snake. Mercilessly oppressing my family, running almost all my affairs and taking my hands on her hands, she brought into the house not peace and quiet, but discord and misfortune. Once, unexpectedly, I saw her lover in our house and realized that, alas, he was not the only one. Every day more and more I had to endure from this libertine, which was nothing to my reproaches, and so many torments and torments accumulated in my heart that it could not stand it. This insidious woman rejoiced at my death; She settled near the church to hide away from prying eyes, and gave vent to her insatiable lust. Here is a portrait of the one you were in love with. It so happened that I visited your world just the night after you wrote your lady the first letter. It was already after midnight when I went into the bedroom and saw her having fun with her lover. She read the letter aloud, mocking every word you say. This is how this wise lady made fun of you with her half-witted lover. But you must understand that this woman is not an exception among others. All of them are full of deceit, a passionate desire to rule overwhelms them, no one can be compared with the malevolence and suspicion with the female sex. And now I want you to take revenge on this unworthy woman for the insult that will benefit both you and her. "

The shocked hero is trying to find out why the spirit of this particular person whom he never knew during his life responded to his suffering. The spirit answers this question: “The guilt for which I was ordered to condemn you for your own good lies in part with me, since this woman was once mine, and no one could know all her insight and tell you so like me. That's why I came to treat you for the disease. ”

The hero woke up, began to reflect on what he saw and heard, and decided to forever part with destructive love.