The Queen Of Spades Sparknotes

“When considering the subject matter of many of Pushkin’s writings one is struck by the fact that certain intellectual demands are made on the reader, “ and they become apart of a character’s flaws and struggles (Fennell 386). In the “The Queen Of Spades”, Hermann finds trouble managing to keep his sanity while searching for a the magic three words, and through him we witness the deterioration of man that was once stable. Caryl Emerson, a Slavic language and literature professor at Princeton University, noticed the specific way in which Pushkin wrote by using the method of fragmentary code. This way of writing leaves readers with a specific uncertainty. She went onto describe them as, “codes that tantalize, but do not quite add up” (Rosenshield 76). Throughout the story we see the deterioration of Hermann
after hearing Tomsky’s grandmother’s tale of luck. Rosenshield recognized the reasons why Hermann went mad, but couldn’t quite figure out how he was so clearheaded when the ghost arrived at his doorstep. As a result, the “psychological code” is “fragmented” and through this Pushkin creates the constant battle of what actually occurred: Did Hermann witness a supernatural event, meeting the countess’s ghost, or was he mentally ill (Rosenshield 76)? Hermann’s constant act of trying to simplify life into a single “formula” eventually caused him to go mad (Roseshield 79). In the opening scene at the Narumov’s house, Hermann is quietly sitting next to the faro game, a source of spectatorial entertainment. He doesn’t bet or play because he believes there is no point in risking the stability he has in his life. The character of Hermann presented before Tomsky’s tale in the first couple paragraphs is one that is realistic and safe. On the other hand, after hearing the story he seems to have gained much interest in the risky world of gambling. At first he out right objects the validity of the story, but slowly he begins to realize what a simple three card secret can do for his life. During the telling of the story there is a change brought about in Hermann: he begins to disregard the losses of a faro game and only looks at the winnings. Now that he thinks there is a way to guarantee him a definite win he has eliminated what he fears most, risk. With this in mind his interest grows and so do his plans for the secret’s discovery. The first sign of his mental illness was through the courting of Lisveta for pure utility, and from that he was able to get into the countess’s room. The fact that he did not care for the emotional toll it would bring Lisaveta shows his total disregard for normal human emotions. The last glimpse of Hermann’s old self is when he is trembling out of fear before confronting the countess. This resembles the sane Hermann, a man that keeps to himself and prevents anything rash that would disrupt his life. After going through with the questioning and causing the Countess’s death he has changed permanently and not for the better. At first Hermann seemed remorseful, but as the story progressed it was clear that he didn’t actually care; all he was thinking about was the money. After the funeral he remained in a dejected state because he thought the prospects of finding out the magic three words had died with the countess. His lack of guilt for her death and his obsession for money reveals his slow decline into severe mental illness. When the ghost tells Hermann the three magic words,” three, seven, ace”, he doesn’t even bat an eye at the fact he was picturing a ghost. His lucidity of the situation shows how much he has digressed in his mental state. Most people would be frightened at the sight of a ghostly figure that you just killed, but not Hermann he was focused on only the three words. In this scene Hermann has reached a euphoric state in which he thinks all his problems will be solved after three simple games of faro. In this part of the story Hermann is under the impression that he has gained his security back after a long detour of searching for the secret. He feels like his old self has returned and there are no more risks to be taken. Everything in his mind appears to be so calculated and infallible that he starts to create these large expectations for his life after he wins the money. After following the rules directly given by the ghost, Hermann won the first two faro games. On the third and last game they flipped the cards and he did not pick up an ace, but a queen of spades. His structured plan fell to pieces in a matter of seconds, and he was filled with disillusionment. A defeating hysteria blinded him from the reality of the situation, and all he could picture was the queen on the card winking at him. His defeat did unrepairable damage to whatever sanity he had left, and his will to find a way out of it was obliterated. Hermann made these great expectations for the life he wanted to live after winning the money that he never even considered losing. Looking back now, he created the ghost to relieve himself of the pressure of finding the secret and to make his expectations a reality. After his loss he is admitted into Oboukov, an insane asylum, for the game, the ghost, and his relentless search for the secret destroyed his psychological stability. There at the asylum he has been completely cut off from the outside world, and his life has been reduced to the words: three, seven, ace, three, seven, queen. His imagination and free will is taken away and all that remains of Hermann is a useless body bound by a haunting defeat (Rosenshield 79-80). The desire for the best of the best has always been the downfall for many characters in literature. Hermann recognized the opportunity of getting big bucks for minimal effort, and it enticed him dangerously. As result he dedicated all his waking hours and dreams in his sleep to finding out the magic words. Greed was his demise and it ended his life as a functioning human being. Through his avaricious tendencies and the pressure he put himself under the defeat of his last game was too much for him to handle. He broke and self-deception and the power of money are to blame. He was under the illusion that his plan was an easy task to accomplish, but he overestimated the toll it would have on his emotional and mental health. He did not experience a supernatural event it was all in his head.
Through his imagination, a tool he used throughout the story, led him to believe he was talking to a ghost. Meanwhile all he was doing was feeding himself the answer he wanted to hear. At that point he was so emotionally distressed after not getting the answer out of the countess before her death that he would’ve done anything to get it. Another reason why he created the ghostly figure was too create a security blanket to fall back on. In the beginning Hermann is timid and will go at all lengths to make sure he will not jeopardize his structured life. As a result, after taking the risk of leaving his safe world it is only natural for him to try to revert back to it, and the only way he feels he could do that is by getting the answer from the countess herself. Since she’s dead he created the next best thing, her ghost. After her arrival he finally feels like all the stress has paid off. The ghost brings Hermann comfort and lets him arrive to a kind of grace period in the story. In this part of the story, between the ghost scene and before the defeat of his last faro game, he feels
limitless. Overall Rosenshield perfectly sums it up by saying the “outside world is transformed into a new code” into Hermann’s code (Rosenshield 79-80). The separation between the two realms of sanity and insanity causes a successful use of Pushkin’s fragmentary code. Hermann’s madness started with his imagination and was worsened by the untamable emotion of greed (Rosenshield 201). Between the destruction of a character and Pushkin’s portrayal of a man’s downward spiral leave a lasting impression on the reader, leaving everyone left with the idea some stones are better left unturned.