The story "Queen of Spades" was written by Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin in 1833. The narration is conducted in the third person. The main character is a young man, a military engineer, without a name, but with a German surname Hermann. However, disputes are ongoing to this day - this is the name or surname of one of the main characters. The main events take place in different locations, as Hermann moves, which will be described in more detail in a short retelling. In addition to the young man, the second hero of the storyteller is the girl Elizaveta Ivanovna. The remaining characters are secondary, as they are only partially connected with the main persons to reflect their vital functions. The plot tells about a person’s readiness for any tricks for the sake of improving his own financial situation by fraudulent means, from love to violent threats. Also, not subject to fate and its unpredictability. The problem of morality and human dignity is raised. But, unfortunately, the reduction does not convey everything that Pushkin wanted to convey, because when reading everyone can learn something of their own in the work.
The story begins with a party in cards with the horse guard Narumov. Here we immediately get acquainted with Hermann - the main character, a young engineer, Tomsky, a young officer, a character whose story became the cause of the complication. With minor characters and with Countess Anna Fedotovna - the grandmother of Paul Tomsky. At the table, everyone plays, except for the hero, the game only occupies him.
The story that underlies the story happened in Paris when Anna Fedotovna was 20 years old. Then the girls played in the pharaoh, and in it then, now the old countess, lost to the Duke of Orleans a tidy sum. Arriving home, Anna turned to her husband to pay the debt, which only made him angry. The late grandfather brought his wife bills about half a million rubles spent and refused to pay. This answer did not suit the lady and, slapping her husband, she went to bed alone, as a sign of disfavor. In the morning, the situation has not changed. Then Anna Fedotovna decided to turn to her good friend Count Saint-Germain, whom he still loves, and begins to get angry when someone speaks of him disrespectfully. She wrote him a note asking him to come immediately. At the meeting, the countess told her friend about her husband’s barbarism and pressed pity, asking for help. Saint-Germain decided not to borrow amounts, but to tell a way to recoup. And for this money was absolutely not needed. By evening, Anna Fedotovna had already arrived at the Duke of Orleans, without a debt, which was justified by inventing a little story. They sat down to play. Grandmother selected three cards, put them one after another and all three in a row won.
Hermann was left capital from his father, which he decided not to touch at all, and lived only on a salary, not allowing himself to whim. He was of a passionate nature, but his strength of character saved him from the mistakes of youth. He was a player at heart, but his position did not allow him to bet everything in order to risk losing or gaining more. But, despite this, he seemed to become obsessed with this joke. He began to come every day under the windows of the Countess’s palace and constantly met with glances with her pupil Lizaveta Ivanovna. Between them a mysterious connection arose, as the girl believed. He tried to get her and one day she called him to her room. He arrived late at night, but never rose to Lizaveta. Hermann remained waiting for the old countess in a dark office. As soon as she returned and finished with the toilet - he came out of the darkness and began to beg her to guess three cards for him. But mercy, over time, gave way to threats due to the silence of the old woman. He made up his mind to take a desperate step and took out a gun, in order to frighten him, but the old woman died right before his eyes. Only later did the young engineer dare to enter the chambers of Lizaveta, where he told the girl about the death of the countess and that he was the reason. He also said that all letters, persecutions and demands were only an excuse for a meeting with Anna Fedotovna. The girl was disappointed, and Hermann himself did not even feel remorse from her tears. Three days later, he arrived at the funeral of the old woman, and when he bent over the coffin, for a minute it seemed that the deceased looked at him mockingly, squinting with one eye. This made the young engineer uneasy, and while dining in the tavern, he drank a lot of wine, trying to drown out the excitement. Already at night, when the dream left him, the dead countess visited the young engineer. She came to him to fulfill his request, but against her will. And she made him a card of three, seven and ace, with the condition that he does not bet more than one card a day, and so he never plays later. And she will forgive him his death when he marries Lizaveta Ivanovna. After these words, she left him. After that night, Hermann didn’t get the cards out of his head, he wanted to take advantage of the secret that he got, and the case presented itself. The famous Moscow rich player Chekalinsky arrived in Petersburg, to whom the youth immediately surged, and Narumov brought Hermann there too. The game began, the main character immediately put forty seven thousand on the jackpot, which surprised everyone, because no one put more than two hundred and seventy-five samples. The card won, and the winner with a calm soul departed. The next day he again bet forty-seven thousand and the last win. This time the win was ninety-four thousand. The last day, the engineer returned again, putting all his money on the line, but instead of an ace he had a lady. He looked closely, it seemed to him that the Queen of Spades grinned and squinted, which made her incredibly similar to the old woman. "Old woman!" He cried in horror.
Hermann found himself in a psychiatric hospital, does not answer anyone, but constantly mutters: “Three, seven, ace! Three, seven, lady! ... ". Lizaveta Ivanovna got married and is in good condition, and Tomsky married Princess Polina.
