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- The image and characteristics of Hermann in the story The Queen of Spades
Description of the hero. The main character of A.S. Pushkin’s work “The Queen of Spades” is Herman. This is a young, intelligent, educated person. He is a military engineer by profession. Despite having a good profession, Herman is a citizen with average income. He cannot afford unnecessary expenses and is content with little.
Herman’s father is a Russified German who did not leave his son a rich inheritance. His friends, accustomed to big waste, live solely for their own pleasure and often laugh at Herman’s rational spending. The hero wants to improve his financial situation and find an opportunity to get rich.
By nature, Herman was a gambler and adventurer, however, before Tomsky’s revelation, he had never sat at a gaming table before. The desire for quick enrichment and the passionate nature of the adventurer will push the hero to a stupid act.
German is a person who is constantly interested in something and gets carried away. In an attempt to improve his financial situation, Herman tries to find out the secret of three cards that will bring him closer to his dream. He can no longer think about anything; he is driven by passion and greed. These detrimental character traits ultimately destroy Herman. Deciding, no matter what, to find out the secret of the three cards, the hero goes to great lengths: he seduces a young girl, to whom he does not feel the slightest attraction, and even threatens an elderly woman. The latter, by the way, dies of fear, but this does not really concern the hero. Herman becomes obsessed: his obsession does not allow the hero to look soberly at the surroundings and the world and to think adequately.
The hero's fate is tragic, as he eventually goes crazy. The young engineer just wanted to be a happy and rich man. He dreamed of spending money as he wished, not infringing himself in anything, and living carefree like his friends. However, his methods of achieving happiness turned out to be unproductive, because cynicism, ruthlessness, excessive excitement and greed do not lead to anything good.
Other works: ← The image and characteristics of the Count in the story Shot↑ PushkinThe image and characteristics of Dunya in the story The Station Warden →
Portrait
Hermann is the son of a poor, Russified German. This is a rather attractive young man. He has black hair and eyes, pale skin color (“... a quick blush covered his pale cheeks...”). According to one of the heroes of the story, Tomsky, Hermann has a truly romantic face and “the profile of Napoleon.” Hermann's gait is light and firm.
He is educated and brought up. The young man's specialty is a military engineer. The small fortune left by his father does not correspond to Hermann’s ambitious plans. But he doesn’t spend even this pitiful percentage of his father’s fortune, but lives only on his salary. The young engineer has to save on everything, counting pennies; he “did not allow himself unnecessary whims.” A gambler, Hermann is forced to simply watch the game of other gamblers so as not to lose (“... and followed with feverish trepidation the various turns of the game”). Friends thought that he was simply not ready to spend money thoughtlessly. “Hermann is a German: he is calculating, that’s all!” - Tomsky says about him. This situation does not suit the young man, so he is looking for any opportunity to get rich.
The story of the three mystical cards and the secret of the old countess excited him, and he decides to find out the secret of the three cards at all costs.
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The main difference between the opera and the story is the romantic elevation of the theme of love and the hero himself, Herman. In Pushkin, German is the embodiment of vice, “a man with the profile of Napoleon and the soul of Mephistopheles,” an adventurer, ambitious, gambler, obsessed with a manic passion for profit at any cost, even meanness. For him, Lisa is only a means to mastering the secret of the three cards, and therefore to enrichment. Such Herman could not inspire the romantic Tchaikovsky, and at first he categorically refused to write an opera on this plot. But he was eager to translate the libretto of his brother Modest Ilyich into music.
Essentially this is a new work based on the plot of A. S. Pushkin. Did the librettist have the right to do this? Undoubtedly. In the history of opera, it is perhaps impossible to find a libretto that would exactly correspond to the literary source. So, the action is transferred to the century of Catherine II. The main character is completely different from his prototype. This is an enthusiastic romantic, endowed with a sublime soul. He idolizes Lisa, his “beauty, goddess,” without daring to kiss her footprint. All his ariosos in the first act are passionate declarations of love. The desire to get rich is not a goal, but a means to overcome the social abyss that separates him and Liza (after all, Liza in the opera is not a hanger-on, but the rich granddaughter of the Countess). “Know three cards and I’m rich,” he exclaims, “and with it I can run away from people.” This idea takes possession of him more and more, displacing his love for Lisa. The tragedy of Herman's mental struggle is aggravated by his collision with the formidable force of fate. The embodiment of this power is the Countess. The hero dies, and yet love triumphs in Tchaikovsky’s music: in the finale of the opera the bright theme of love sounds, like a hymn to its beauty, the powerful impulse of the human soul towards light, joy and happiness.
Herman's dying appeal to Lisa, as it were, atones for his guilt and inspires hope for the salvation of his rebellious soul. The plot of the story plays on the theme of unpredictable fate, fortune, and rock, beloved by Pushkin (as well as other romantics). A young military engineer, German Hermann, leads a modest life and amasses a fortune; he does not even play cards and limits himself only to watching the game. His friend Tomsky tells a story about how his grandmother, the countess, while in Paris, lost a large sum at cards on her word. She tried to borrow money from Count Saint-Germain, but instead of money, he told her a secret about how to guess three cards at once in a game. The Countess, thanks to the secret, completely won back.
Natalya Petrovna Golitsyna - prototype of the Countess from The Queen of Spades
Hermann, having seduced her pupil, Lisa, enters the countess’s bedroom and, with pleas and threats, tries to find out the cherished secret. Seeing an unloaded pistol in his hands, the Countess dies of a heart attack. At the funeral, Hermann imagines that the late countess opens her eyes and glances at him. In the evening, her ghost appears to Hermann and says that three cards (“three, seven, ace”) will bring him a win, but he should not bet more than one card per day. Three cards become an obsession for Hermann:
The famous millionaire gambler Chekalinsky comes to Moscow. Hermann bets all his capital on three, wins and doubles it. The next day he bets all his money on seven, wins and again doubles his capital. On the third day, Hermann bets money (already about two hundred thousand) on the ace, but the queen falls out. Hermann sees on the map a grinning and winking Queen of Spades, who reminds him of the Countess. The ruined Hermann ends up in a mental hospital, where he does not react to anything and constantly “mutters unusually quickly: “Three, seven, ace!” Three, seven, queen!..”
Prince Yeletsky (from the opera “The Queen of Spades”) I love you, I love you immensely, I can’t imagine living a day without you. And I am now ready to perform a feat of unparalleled strength for you, Ah, I am tormented by this distance, I sympathize with you with all my soul, I am saddened by your sadness And I cry with your tears... I sympathize with you with all my soul!
The seventh picture begins with everyday episodes: a drinking song of the guests, Tomsky’s frivolous song “If only dear girls” (to the words of G. R. Derzhavin). With the appearance of Herman, the music becomes nervously excited. The anxiously wary septet “Something is wrong here” conveys the excitement that gripped the players. The rapture of victory and cruel joy can be heard in Herman’s aria “What is our life? A game!". In the dying minute, his thoughts are again turned to Lisa - a reverently tender image of love appears in the orchestra.
Herman's aria from the opera "The Queen of Spades". “That our life is a game.”
Herman (from the opera "The Queen of Spades")
That our life is a game, Good and evil, just dreams. Work, honesty, old wives' tales, Who is right, who is happy here, friends, Today you, and tomorrow me.
So give up the fight, Seize the moment of luck, Let the loser cry, Let the loser cry, Cursing, cursing his fate.
What is true is that there is only one death, Like the shore of the sea of vanity. She is a refuge for us all, Which of us is dearer to her, friends, Today you are, and tomorrow I am. So give up the fight, Seize the moment of luck, Let the loser cry, Let the loser cry, Cursing his fate. Chorus of guests and players (from the opera “The Queen of Spades”)
Youth does not last forever
Let's drink and have fun! Let's play with life! Old age is not long to wait! Youth does not last forever, Old age does not last long! We don't have to wait long. Old age is not long to wait! Not long to wait. Let our youth drown in bliss, cards and wine! Let our youth drown in bliss, cards and wine! They are the only joy in the world, Life will fly by like in a dream! Youth does not last forever, Old age does not last long! We don't have to wait long. Old age is not long to wait! Not long to wait. Lisa and Polina (from the opera "The Queen of Spades")
Lisa's room. Door to balcony overlooking the garden.
The second picture falls into two halves - everyday and love-lyrical. The idyllic duet of Polina and Lisa “It’s Evening” is shrouded in light sadness. Polina’s romance “Dear Friends” sounds gloomy and doomed. It is contrasted by the lively dance song “Come on, Little Svetik Mashenka.” The second half of the film opens with Lisa’s arioso “Where do these tears come from” - a heartfelt monologue full of deep feeling. Lisa's melancholy gives way to an enthusiastic confession: “Oh, listen, night.”
"Queen of Spades". Polina's romance "Dear Friends".
Lisa at the harpsichord. Polina is near her; friends are here. Lisa and Polina sing an idyllic duet to the words of Zhukovsky (“It’s already evening... the edges of the clouds have darkened”). Friends express delight. Lisa asks Polina to sing alone. Polina sings. Her romance “Dear Friends” sounds gloomy and doomed. It seems to resurrect the good old days - it’s not for nothing that the accompaniment in it sounds on the harpsichord. Here the librettist used Batyushkov’s poem. It formulates an idea that was first expressed in the 17th century in the Latin phrase that then became popular: “Et in Arcadia ego,” meaning: “And in Arcadia (that is, in paradise) I (death) am”;
in the 18th century, that is, at the time remembered in the opera, this phrase was rethought, and now it meant: “And I once lived in Arcadia” (which is a violation of the grammar of the Latin original), and this is what Polina sings about : “And I, like you, lived happy in Arcadia.”
This Latin phrase could often be found on tombstones (N. Poussin depicted such a scene twice); Polina, like Lisa, accompanying herself on the harpsichord, completes her romance with the words: “But what did I get in these joyful places? Grave!”) Everyone is touched and excited. But now Polina herself wants to add a more cheerful note and offers to sing “Russian in honor of the bride and groom!” (that is, Lisa and Prince Yeletsky). Girlfriends clap their hands. Lisa, not taking part in the fun, stands at the balcony. Polina and her friends start singing, then start dancing. The governess enters and puts an end to the girls' fun, reporting that the countess, having heard the noise, became angry. The young ladies disperse. Lisa sees Polina off. The maid (Masha) enters; she puts out the candles, leaving only one, and wants to close the balcony, but Lisa stops her. Left alone, Lisa indulges in thought and quietly cries. Her arioso “Where do these tears come from” sounds. Lisa turns to the night and confides in her the secret of her soul: “She is gloomy, like you, she is like the sad gaze of eyes that took away peace and happiness from me...” It’s already evening... The edges of the clouds have darkened, The last ray of dawn on the towers is dying; The last brilliant stream in the river fades away with the extinct sky, fades away. Prilepa (from the opera “The Queen of Spades”) My dear friend, Dear shepherd, For whom I sigh and wish to open my passion, Oh, I didn’t come to dance. Milovzor (from the opera “The Queen of Spades”) I’m here, but I’m boring, languid, Look how thin I’ve lost! I will no longer be modest, I hid my passion for a long time. He will no longer be modest, He hid his passion for a long time. [/td]
Herman’s tenderly sad and passionate arioso “Forgive me, heavenly creature” is interrupted by the appearance of the Countess: the music takes on a tragic tone; sharp, nervous rhythms and ominous orchestral colors emerge. The second picture ends with the affirmation of the bright theme of love. In the third scene (second act), scenes of metropolitan life become the backdrop of the developing drama. The opening chorus in the spirit of welcoming cantatas of Catherine’s era is a kind of screensaver of the picture. Prince Yeletsky’s aria “I love you” depicts his nobility and restraint. Pastoral “The Sincerity of the Shepherdess” is a stylization of 18th-century music; elegant, graceful songs and dances frame the idyllic love duet of Prilepa and Milovzor.
Forgive heavenly creature that I disturbed your peace. Forgive me, but do not reject a passionate confession, Do not reject it with melancholy... Oh, pity, I am dying, I bring my prayer to you, Look from the heights of heavenly paradise at the mortal struggle, A soul tormented by the torment of Love for you... In the finale, at the moment of the meeting of Lisa and Herman, a distorted melody of love sounds in the orchestra: a turning point has come in Herman’s consciousness, from now on he is driven not by love, but by the persistent thought of three cards. The fourth scene, central to the opera, is full of anxiety and drama. It begins with an orchestral introduction, in which the intonations of Herman’s love confessions are guessed. The chorus of hangers-on (“Our Benefactor”) and the Countess’s song (a melody from Grétry’s opera “Richard the Lionheart”) are replaced by music of an ominously hidden nature. It contrasts with Herman’s arioso, imbued with a passionate feeling, “If you ever knew the feeling of love”
Character
The young man was secretive and did not tell anyone about his life, much less his ambitious plans.
Pushkin put an exact description of Hermann’s appearance and character into the mouth of one of the characters in the story, Tomsky: “... he has the profile of Napoleon, and the soul of Mephistopheles. I think he has at least three crimes on his conscience.” Hermann turned out to have not only Napoleon’s profile, but also the same ambitious plans. He wanted to conquer the world. Only the French emperor was going to win military victories, Pushkin's hero dreamed that he would have a lot of money, and then the whole world would be at his feet.
The comparison with Mephistopheles is also not accidental. The young man tempted an innocent girl to achieve his goal. He actually committed three atrocities, only a little later than Tomsky thought.
Firstly, the man jeopardized the honor of Lisa, a pupil of Countess Anna Fedotovna, not only by bombarding her with letters, but also by coming to her room at night.
Secondly, he, like a thief, entered someone else's house under the cover of darkness with bad intentions.
Thirdly, Hermann actually killed the countess, threatening her with a pistol, which is why the old woman had a stroke.
Hermann is very passionate and impressionable, “had strong passions and a fiery imagination,” so only he, of all those sitting at the card table during Tomsky’s story, believed in the “anecdote about three cards.”
Queen of Spades characterization of Hermann's image
Queen of Spades
(Tale, 1833; published 1834)
Hermann is a young officer (“engineer”), the central character of a socio-philosophical story, each of the heroes of which is associated with a specific theme (Tomsky - with the theme of undeserved happiness; Lizaveta Ivanovna - with the theme of social humility; the old countess - with the theme of fate) and endowed one defining and unchanging feature. G. - first of all, prudent, reasonable; this is emphasized by his German origin, his last name (the reader does not know his name), and even his military specialty as an engineer.
G. first appears on the pages of the story in an episode with the horse guard Narumov, but, sitting until 5 in the morning in the company of players, he never plays - “I am not able to sacrifice what is necessary in the hope of acquiring what is superfluous.” Ambition, strong passions, and fiery imagination are suppressed in him by the strength of his will. After listening to Tomsky’s story about three cards, the secret of which was revealed to his grandmother Countess Anna Fedotovna by the legendary spirit seer Saint Germain 60 years ago, he exclaims: not “Chance,” but “Fairy Tale!” - because it eliminates the possibility of irrational success.
Next, the reader sees G. standing in front of the windows of the poor pupil of the old countess, Lisa; his appearance is romantic: a beaver collar covers his face, his black eyes sparkle, a quick blush flashes on his pale cheeks. However, G. is not the gallant character of the old French novel that the countess is reading, not the fatal hero of the Gothic novel (which the countess condemns), not the protagonist of the boring and peaceful Russian novel (brought to her by Tomsky), not even the “literary relative” of Erast from Karamzin’s story "Poor Lisa." (The connection with this story is indicated not only by the name of the poor pupil, but also by the “foreign” vowel of the surname of her “seducer”.) G. is rather the hero of a German bourgeois novel, from which he borrows word and word his first letter to Liza; This is the hero of a novel of convenience. He needs Lisa only as an obedient instrument for the implementation of a well-thought-out plan - to master the secret of the three cards.
There is no contradiction here with Narumov’s scene; a man of the bourgeois era, G. did not change, did not recognize the omnipotence of fate and the triumph of chance (on which any gambling game is based - especially Pharaoh, which the Countess played 60 years ago). Simply, after listening to the continuation of the story (about the deceased Chaplitsky, to whom Anna Fedotovna revealed the secret), G. was convinced of the effectiveness of the secret. This is logical; one-time success may be random; the repetition of an accident indicates the possibility of turning it into a pattern; and the pattern can be “calculated,” rationalized, and used. Until now, his three trump cards were calculation, moderation and accuracy; from now on, mystery and adventurism were paradoxically combined with the same calculation, with the same bourgeois thirst for money.
And here G. miscalculates in a terrible way. Two days later he set out to master the law of chance, to subordinate the mystery to his own purposes, when the mystery itself immediately took possession of him. This dependence, the “subjugation” of the hero’s actions and thoughts (which he himself hardly notices) begins to manifest itself immediately - and in everything.
Upon returning from Narumov, he has a dream about a game in which gold and banknotes seem to be demonized; then, already in reality, an unknown force leads him to the house of the old countess. G.'s life and consciousness are instantly and completely subordinated to a mysterious game of numbers, the meaning of which the reader does not understand for the time being. Thinking about how to take possession of the secret, G. is ready to become the lover of the eighty-year-old countess - for she will die in a week (i.e. in 7 days) or in 2 days (i.e. on the 3rd); winnings can triple, seventeen his capital; after 2 days (i.e., again on the 3rd), he appears under Lisa’s windows for the first time; after 7 days she smiles at him for the first time - and so on. Even G.’s surname now sounds like a strange, German echo of the French name Saint-Germain, from whom the countess received the secret of the three cards.
But, barely hinting at the mysterious circumstances to which his hero becomes a slave, the author again focuses the reader’s attention on G.’s rationality, prudence, and planning; he thinks through everything - right down to Lizaveta Ivanovna’s reaction to his love letters. Having obtained her consent to a date (and therefore received a detailed plan of the house and advice on how to get into it), G. sneaks into the countess’s office, waits for her return from the ball - and, scaring her half to death, tries to find out the desired secret. The arguments he gives in his favor are extremely varied; from the proposal to “make my life happy” to discussions about the benefits of frugality; from the readiness to take the Countess’s sin upon one’s soul, even if it is connected “with the destruction of eternal bliss, with a devilish pact” to the promise to honor Anna Fedotovna “like a shrine” from generation to generation. (This is a paraphrase of the liturgical prayer book “The Lord your God will reign forever in Zion, to all generations.”) G. agrees to everything, because he does not believe in anything: neither in the “destruction of eternal bliss”, nor in shrines; these are only incantatory formulas, “sacred-legal” conditions of a possible contract. Even “something similar to remorse” that resonated in his heart when he heard the steps of Lisa, whom he had deceived, is no longer able to awaken in him; he became petrified, like a dead statue.
Realizing that the countess is dead, G. sneaks into Lizaveta Ivanovna’s room - not in order to repent to her, but in order to dot all the i’s; to untie the knot of a love plot that is no longer needed, “... all this was not love! Money—that’s what his soul yearned for!” A stern soul,” Pushkin clarifies. Why, then, twice during one chapter (IV) does the author lead the reader to compare the cold G. with Napoleon, who for people of the first half of the 19th century. embodied the idea of romantic fearlessness in playing with fate? First, Lisa recalls a conversation with Tomsky (G. has a “truly romantic face” - “the profile of Napoleon, and the soul of Mephistopheles”), then follows a description of G., sitting on the window with his arms folded and surprisingly reminiscent of a portrait of Napoleon...
First of all, Pushkin (like Gogol later) depicts a new, bourgeois, crumbling world. Although all the passions, symbolized by cards in the story, remained the same, evil lost its “heroic” appearance and changed its scale. Napoleon thirsted for glory - and boldly went to fight with the entire Universe; a modern “Napoleon”, G. craves money - and wants to shortchange his fate in accounting. The “former” Mephistopheles threw the whole world at Faust’s feet; The “current” Me-fisto is only capable of intimidating the old countess to death with an unloaded pistol (and the modern Faust from Pushkin’s ♦ Scenes from Faust”, 1826, with which “The Queen of Spades” is associated, is mortally bored). From here it’s a stone’s throw to the “Napoleonism” of Rodion Raskolnikov, united with the image of G. by ties of literary kinship (“Crime and Punishment” by F. M. Dostoevsky); For the sake of an idea, Raskolnikov will sacrifice the old money-lender (the same personification of fate as the old countess) and her innocent sister Lizaveta Ivanovna (the name of the poor pupil). However, the opposite is also true: evil shredded, but remained the same evil; G.’s “Napoleonic” pose, the pose of the ruler of fate, who has suffered defeat, but has not come to terms with it - crossed arms - indicates a proud contempt for the world, which is emphasized by the “parallel” with Lisa, sitting opposite and humbly folding her hands in a cross.
However, the voice of conscience will speak again in G. - three days after the fateful night, during the funeral service for the unwittingly killed old woman. He will decide to ask her for forgiveness - but even here he will act for reasons of moral gain, and not for strictly moral reasons. The deceased may have a harmful influence on his life - and it is better to mentally repent to her in order to get rid of this influence.
And here is the author, who consistently changes the literary registration of his hero (in the first chapter he is a potential character in an adventure novel; in the second, he is the hero of a fantasy story in the spirit of E.-T.-A. Hoffmann; in the third, he is the protagonist of a social-everyday story, the plot of which gradually returns to its adventurous origins), again sharply “switches” the tone of the narrative. Rhetorical clichés from the funeral sermon of the young bishop (“the angel of death found her <...> awake in good thoughts and in anticipation of the midnight bridegroom”) are themselves superimposed on the events of the terrible night. In G., this “angel of death” and “midnight bridegroom”, parodic features suddenly appear; his image continues to shrink and decline; he seems to melt before the reader’s eyes. And even the “revenge” of the dead old woman, which makes the hero faint, can make the reader smile: she “looked at him mockingly, squinting with one eye.” A historical anecdote about three cards, a detailed description of everyday life, fantasy - everything gets confused, covered with a veil of irony and ambiguity, so that neither the hero nor the reader can make out: is the dead old woman, shuffling with slippers, all in white, really G. that same night? Or is this a consequence of nervous paroxysm and drunk wine? What are the three cards she named - “three, seven, ace” - the otherworldly secret of numbers to which G. is subject from the moment he decided to take possession of the secret of the cards, or a simple progression that G. deduced for himself a long time ago ( “I will triple, seventeen the capital..,” that is, I will become an ace)? And what explains the dead countess’s promise to forgive her involuntary killer if he marries a poor pupil, about whom she had nothing to do with during her life? Is it because the old woman was forced to “become kinder” by an unknown force that sent her to G., or because in his diseased consciousness all the same echoes of conscience are heard that once woke up in him at the sound of Lisa’s steps? There are no and cannot be answers to these questions; without noticing it, G. found himself in an “intermediate” space, where the laws of reason no longer apply, and the power of the irrational principle is not yet omnipotent; he is on the road to madness.
The idea of three cards finally takes possession of him; he compares a slender girl to a three-piece of gold; When asked about the time, he answers “5 minutes to seven.” A pot-bellied man seems to him like an ace, and the ace appears as a spider in a dream - this image of dubious eternity in the form of a spider weaving its web will also be picked up by Dostoevsky in “Crime and Punishment” (Svidrigailov). G., who so valued independence, even if it was material, and for its sake entered into a game with fate, completely loses his independence. He is ready to completely repeat the “Parisian” episode of the life of the old countess and go to Paris to play. But here the famous player Chekalinsky comes from “irrational” Moscow and the capital of a real “irregular” game. The very case that G. intended to exclude from his natural, planned life saves him from “trouble” and decides his fate.
In the scenes of the “duel” with Chekalinsky (whose surname rhymes assonantly with Chaplitsky’s surname), the reader is presented with the old G. - cold and the more calculating, the less predictable the game of pharaoh. (The player puts a card, the punter, who holds the bank, throws the deck right and left; the card may or may not coincide with the one the player chose at the beginning of the game; it is obviously impossible to predict winning or losing; any maneuvers of the player that do not depend on his mind and will are excluded.) G. does not seem to notice that in the image of Chekalinsky, on whose plump, fresh face an eternal icy smile plays, fate itself confronts him; G. is calm, because he is confident that he has mastered the law of chance. And, oddly enough, he is right: the old woman did not deceive; all three cards win night after night. It’s just that G. himself accidentally screwed up, i.e. instead of the ace he put the queen of spades. The pattern of mystery is fully confirmed, but the omnipotence of chance is also confirmed. G.’s tripled, moderated capital (94 thousand) goes to the “ace” - Chekalinsky; G. gets the queen of spades, who, of course, immediately repeats the “gesture” of the dead old woman - she “squinted and grinned.”
“The Queen of Spades” was apparently created in the second Boldin autumn, in parallel with “The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish” and the “St. Petersburg story” “The Bronze Horseman”. Naturally, the image of G. comes into contact with their central characters. Like the old countess, he wants to put fate at his service - and in the end he also suffers a crushing defeat. Like poor Eugene, he rebels against the “natural” order of social life - and also goes crazy. (That is, he is deprived of Reason - that “tool” with the help of which he was going to master the Law of Fate.) From the Conclusion to the story, the reader learns that the failed conqueror of the other world, the bourgeois Napoleon, who reduced Mephistopheles to pieces, sits in the 17th number (ace + seven) Obukhovskaya hospital and mutters very quickly: “Three, seven, ace! Three, seven, queen!
Madness
The desire to know the secret of the three cards deprived Herman of sleep. He was ready to do anything, even become the lover of an 87-year-old old woman. The German feverishly wondered how to lure the secret out of the countess. After much thought, cold reason almost prevailed over greed (“...calculation, moderation and hard work: these are my faithful three cards...”), but, believing in all sorts of superstitions, Hermann suddenly found himself at the old woman’s house, and then his feet themselves led him to home more than once. Having once seen Lisa in the window, he became even more confident in his fantasies, and an insidious plan matured in the young man’s head: to seduce the girl in order to freely get to the old woman.
Hermann's main problem is that he "had many prejudices." He believed the story told by the drunken officer, he misinterpreted his sudden appearance near the countess’s house, and finally, he came to the funeral, feeling guilty for the death of Anna Fedotovna, “to ask her forgiveness.”
Cold prudence left the German, he seemed to have already lost his mind, how else can one explain the hallucinations in the form of a winking countess in a coffin or the appearance of a dead woman in his house?
The last straw that put an end to his feverish brain was the loss. Hermann put everything on the line: conscience, honor, his last money, and in the end, he became an unwitting killer. His psyche could not withstand such stress, the result was a madhouse.
