Garnet bracelet analysis of love. Analysis of the story “Garnet Bracelet. An unusual story on an ordinary topic

Composition

The theme of love in the works of Kuprin (based on the story The Garnet Bracelet) Love has thousands of aspects and each of them has its own light, its own sadness, its own happiness and its own fragrance. K. Paustovsky. Among the stories of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, the Garnet Bracelet occupies a special place. Paustovsky called it one of the most fragrant, languid and saddest stories about love.

One of the main characters, the poor shy official Zheltkov, fell in love with Princess Vera Nikolaevna Sheina, the wife of the leader of the nobility Vasily Shein. He considered her unavailable and then did not even try to meet with her. Zheltkov wrote letters to her, collected forgotten things and watched her at various exhibitions and meetings. And so, eight years after Zheltkov first saw and fell in love with Vera, he sends her a gift with a letter in which he presents a garnet bracelet and bows before her. I mentally bow to the ground of the furniture on which you sit, the parquet floor on which you walk, the trees that you touch in passing, the servants with whom you speak. Vera told her husband about this gift and, in order not to get into a funny situation, they decided to return the garnet bracelet. Vasily Shein and his wife’s brother asked Zheltkov not to send Vera letters and gifts anymore, but they allowed him to write the last letter in which he apologizes and says goodbye to Vera. Let me be ridiculous in your eyes and in the eyes of your brother, Nikolai Nikolaevich.

As I leave, I say in delight: Hallowed be thy name. Zheltkov had no goal in life, he was not interested in anything, he did not go to theaters, did not read books, he lived only by love for Vera. She was the only joy in life, the only consolation, the only thought. And so, when the last joy in life is taken away from him, Zheltkov commits suicide. The modest clerk Zheltkov is better and cleaner than people of secular society, such as Vasily Shein and Nikolai. The nobility of the soul of a simple person, his ability for deep experiences is contrasted with the callous, soulless powers of this world.

As you know, Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, a writer, was a psychologist. He transferred his observations of human character into literature, thereby enriching and diversifying it. Reading his works, you feel a particularly subtle, deep and sensitive awareness of everything. It seems that the writer knows what you are worried about and is trying to help you, guiding you on the right path. After all, the world in which we live is sometimes so polluted with lies, meanness and vulgarity that we sometimes need a charge of positive energy to resist the sucking quagmire. Who will show us the source of purity? In my opinion, Kuprin has such a talent. He, like a master polishing a stone, reveals wealth in our souls that we ourselves did not know about. In his works, to reveal the characters of the heroes, he uses the technique of psychological analysis, portraying the main character as a spiritually liberated person, trying to endow him with all those wonderful qualities that we admire in people. In particular, sensitivity, understanding towards others and a demanding, strict attitude towards oneself. There are many examples of this: engineer Bobrov, Olesya, G.S. Zheltkov. All of them carry within themselves what we call high moral perfection. They all love selflessly, forgetting themselves.

In the story The Garnet Bracelet, Kuprin, with all the power of his skill, develops the idea of ​​true love. He does not want to come to terms with vulgar, practical views on love and marriage, drawing our attention to these problems in a rather unusual way, equating to an ideal feeling. Through the mouth of General Anosov, he says: ...People in our time have forgotten how to love! I don't see true love. And in my time I didn’t see it. What is this Challenge? Is it really that what we feel is not the truth? We have calm, moderate happiness with the person we need. What's more? According to Kuprin, Love must be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world! No life conveniences, calculations and compromises should concern her. Only then can love be called a real feeling, completely true and moral.

I still cannot forget what an impression Zheltkov’s feelings made on me. How much he loved Vera Nikolaevna that he could commit suicide! This is crazy! Loving Princess Sheina for seven years with a hopeless and polite love, he, without ever meeting her, talking about his love only in letters, suddenly commits suicide! Not because Vera Nikolaevna’s brother is going to turn to the authorities, and not because his gift of a garnet bracelet was returned. (It is a symbol of deep fiery love and at the same time a terrible bloody sign of death.) And, probably, not because he squandered government money. For Zheltkov there was simply no other choice. He loved a married woman so much that he could not help but think about her for a minute, and exist without remembering her smile, her look, the sound of her walk. He himself says to Vera’s husband: There is only one thing left: death... You want me to accept it in any form. The terrible thing is that he was pushed to this decision by Vera Nikolaevna’s brother and husband, who came to demand that their family be left alone. They turned out to be indirectly responsible for his death. They had the right to demand peace, but Nikolai Nikolayevich’s threat to turn to the authorities was unacceptable, even ridiculous. How can the government prohibit a person from loving?

Kuprin’s ideal is selfless love, self-sacrificing, not expecting a reward, one for which you can give your life and endure anything. It was with this kind of love that happens once every thousand years that Zheltkov loved. This was his need, the meaning of life, and he proved this: I knew neither complaint, nor reproach, nor the pain of pride, I have only one prayer before you: Hallowed be Thy name. These words, with which his soul was filled, are felt by Princess Vera in the sounds of Beethoven’s immortal sonata. They cannot leave us indifferent and instill in us an unbridled desire to strive for the same incomparably pure feeling. Its roots go back to morality and spiritual harmony in man.

Princess Vera did not regret that this love, which every woman dreams of, passed her by. She cries because her soul is filled with admiration for sublime, almost unearthly feelings.

A person who could love so much must have some special worldview. Although Zheltkov was just a small official, he turned out to be above social norms and standards. People like them are elevated by people's rumors to the rank of saints, and the bright memory of them lives on for a long time.

Other works on this work

Kuprin in his works shows us true love, where there is not an ounce of self-interest, and which does not crave any reward. And love in the story “The Garnet Bracelet” is described as all-consuming, it is not just a hobby, but a great feeling for life.

In the story we see the true love of one poor official Zheltkov for the married Vera Shein, how happy he is to simply love, without demanding anything in return. And as we see, it didn’t matter to him at all that she didn’t need him. And as proof of his boundless love, he gives Vera Nikolaevna a garnet bracelet, the only valuable thing that he inherited from his mother.

Vera’s relatives, dissatisfied with the interference in their personal life, ask Zheltkov to leave her alone and not write letters, which she doesn’t care about anyway. But is it really possible to take away love?

The only joy and meaning in Zheltkov’s life was his love for Vera. He did not have any goals in life, he was no longer interested in anything.

As a result, he decides to commit suicide and fulfills Vera’s will by leaving her. Zheltkova’s love will remain unrequited...

She will realize late that it was true love, the one that many can only dream of, passed her by. Later, looking at the dead Zheltkov, Vera will compare him with the greatest people.

The story “The Garnet Bracelet” colorfully shows us all the torment and tender feelings that are contrasted with the lack of spirituality in this world, where a lover is ready to do anything for the sake of his beloved.

A person who has managed to love so reverently has some special concept of life. And even though Zheltkov was just an ordinary person, he turned out to be above all established norms and standards.

Kuprin portrays love as an unattainable mystery, but for such love there is no doubt. “The Garnet Bracelet” is a very interesting and at the same time sad work, in which Kuprin tried to teach us to appreciate something in life in a timely manner...

Thanks to his works, we find ourselves in a world where selfless and kind people appear before us. Love is passion, it is a powerful and real feeling that shows the best qualities of the soul. But besides all this, love is truthfulness and sincerity in relationships.

Option 2

Love - this word evokes completely different emotions. It can carry both a positive and negative attitude. Kuprin was a unique author who could combine several areas of love in his works. One of these stories was “The Garnet Bracelet.”

The author has always been sensitive to such a phenomenon as love, and in his story he exalted it, one might say, idolized it, which made his work so magical. The main character - the official Zheltkov - was madly in love with a lady named Vera, although he was able to open up to her entirely only at the end of his life's journey. At first Vera did not know how to react, because she received letters with declarations of love, and her family laughed and mocked her. Only Vera’s grandfather suggested that the words written in the letters may not be empty, then the granddaughter will miss the love that all girls in the world dream of.

Love is shown as a bright, pure feeling, and the object of official Zheltkov’s adoration appears before us as an example of the female ideal. Our hero is ready to envy absolutely everything that surrounds and touches Vera. He envies the trees she could touch as she passed, the people she talked to along the way. Therefore, when the realization of the hopelessness of his love and life came to him, he decides to give the woman he loves a gift with which, although not on his own, he will be able to touch her. This bracelet was the most expensive item our poor hero had.

Love at a distance was very difficult for him, but he cherished it in his heart for a long time. In parting, before his death, he wrote her one last letter, in which he said that he was leaving this life at the behest of God, and that he was blessing her and wishing her further happiness. But one can understand that Vera, who realized her chance too late, will no longer be able to live calmly and happily; perhaps this was the only true and sincere love that was waiting for her in life, and she missed it.

In this story by Kuprin, love has a tragic connotation, because it remains an unopened flower in the lives of two people. At first she was unresponsive for a very long time, but when she began to sprout into the second heart, the first, already exhausted from waiting, stopped beating.

The work “Garnet Bracelet” can be perceived not only as an “ode” to love, but also as a prayer for love. Zheltkov in his letter used the expression “hallowed be thy name,” which is a reference to the scriptures of God. He deified his chosen one, which, unfortunately, still could not bring his life to a joyful end. But he did not suffer, he loved, and this feeling was a gift, because not everyone is given the opportunity to experience such a strong feeling at least once in their life, for which our hero remained grateful to his chosen one. She gave him, albeit unrequited, but true love!

Essay Love in the work of Kuprin Garnet bracelet

Over the many centuries of human existence, countless works have been written on the topic of love. And this is not without reason. After all, love occupies a huge place in the life of every person, giving it a special meaning. Among all these works, one can single out very few that describe as strong a feeling of love as Kuprin’s work “Garnet Bracelet”.

The main character, official Zheltkov, as he himself describes his feeling, has the happiness of experiencing real, boundless love. His feeling is so strong that in some places he can be mistaken for an unhealthy, mentally ill person. The peculiarity of Zheltkov’s feeling is that this person in no way wants to disturb the object of his boundless love and passion. He demands absolutely nothing in return for this superhuman love. It doesn’t even occur to him that he can cool down and calm his heart just by meeting Vera. This not only speaks of the iron willpower of a person, but also of the boundless love of this person. It is love that does not allow him, even for a moment, to be worthy of the attention of the object of love.

In the letter, Zheltkov calls his love a gift from God and expresses his gratitude to the Lord for the opportunity to experience such a feeling. Of course, both the reader and the other heroes of the work are well aware that Zheltkov’s love brought him nothing more than bitter suffering and torment. But only a person who has experienced all this and felt such a strong feeling of love has the right to judge or understand the hero. Zheltkov is unable to do anything with his love. He knows about the impossibility of his further coexistence with this feeling of love. That is why the best way out for him is suicide. Before this act, he assures everyone in a letter that he has lived a happy life.

The novel “The Garnet Bracelet” by A. Kuprin is rightfully considered one of the best, revealing the theme of love. The storyline is based on real events. The situation in which the main character of the novel found herself was actually experienced by the mother of the writer’s friend, Lyubimov. This work is named so for a reason. Indeed, for the author, “pomegranate” is a symbol of passionate, but very dangerous love.

The history of the novel

Most of A. Kuprin’s stories are permeated with the eternal theme of love, and the novel “The Garnet Bracelet” most vividly reproduces it. A. Kuprin began work on his masterpiece in the fall of 1910 in Odessa. The idea for this work was the writer’s visit to the Lyubimov family in St. Petersburg.

One day, Lyubimova’s son told an entertaining story about his mother’s secret admirer, who for many years wrote her letters with frank declarations of unrequited love. The mother was not delighted with this manifestation of feelings, because she had been married for a long time. At the same time, she had a higher social status in society than her admirer - a simple official P.P. Zheltikov. The situation was aggravated by a gift in the form of a red bracelet, given for the princess’s name day. At that time, this was a daring act and could cast a bad shadow on the lady’s reputation.

Lyubimova’s husband and brother paid a visit to the fan’s home, he was just writing another letter to his beloved. They returned the gift to the owner, asking not to disturb Lyubimova in the future. None of the family members knew about the further fate of the official.

The story that was told at the tea party hooked the writer. A. Kuprin decided to use it as the basis for his novel, which was somewhat modified and expanded. It should be noted that work on the novel was difficult, about which the author wrote to his friend Batyushkov in a letter on November 21, 1910. The work was published only in 1911, first published in the magazine “Earth”.

Analysis of the work

Description of the work

On her birthday, Princess Vera Nikolaevna Sheina receives an anonymous gift in the form of a bracelet, which is decorated with green stones - “garnets”. The gift was accompanied by a note, from which it became known that the bracelet belonged to the great-grandmother of the princess's secret admirer. The unknown person signed with the initials “G.S.” AND.". The princess is embarrassed by this present and remembers that for many years a stranger has been writing to her about his feelings.

The princess's husband, Vasily Lvovich Shein, and brother, Nikolai Nikolaevich, who worked as an assistant prosecutor, are looking for a secret writer. He turns out to be a simple official under the name Georgy Zheltkov. They return the bracelet to him and ask him to leave the woman alone. Zheltkov feels ashamed that Vera Nikolaevna could lose her reputation because of his actions. It turns out that he fell in love with her a long time ago, having accidentally seen her at the circus. Since then, he writes letters to her about unrequited love until his death several times a year.

The next day, the Shein family learns that official Georgy Zheltkov shot himself. He managed to write his last letter to Vera Nikolaevna, in which he asks for her forgiveness. He writes that his life no longer has meaning, but he still loves her. The only thing Zheltkov asks is that the princess not blame herself for his death. If this fact torments her, then let her listen to Beethoven’s Sonata No. 2 in his honor. Before his death, he ordered the maid to hang the bracelet, which was returned to the official the day before, on the icon of the Mother of God.

Vera Nikolaevna, having read the note, asks her husband for permission to look at the deceased. She arrives at the official's apartment, where she sees him dead. The lady kisses his forehead and places a bouquet of flowers on the deceased. When she returns home, she asks to play Beethoven’s work, after which Vera Nikolaevna burst into tears. She realizes that “he” has forgiven her. At the end of the novel, Sheina realizes the loss of the great love that a woman can only dream of. Here she recalls the words of General Anosov: “Love should be a tragedy, the greatest secret in the world.”

Main characters

Princess, middle-aged woman. She is married, but her relationship with her husband has long grown into friendly feelings. She has no children, but she is always attentive to her husband and takes care of him. She has a bright appearance, is well educated, and is interested in music. But for more than 8 years she has been receiving strange letters from a fan of “G.S.Z.” This fact confuses her; she told her husband and family about it and does not reciprocate the writer’s feelings. At the end of the work, after the death of the official, she bitterly understands the severity of lost love, which happens only once in a life.

Official Georgy Zheltkov

A young man about 30-35 years old. Modest, poor, well-mannered. He is secretly in love with Vera Nikolaevna and writes about his feelings to her in letters. When the bracelet he had been given was returned to him and asked to stop writing to the princess, he commits an act of suicide, leaving a farewell note to the woman.

Vera Nikolaevna's husband. A good, cheerful man who truly loves his wife. But because of his love for constant social life, he is on the verge of ruin, which drags his family to the bottom.

The main character's younger sister. She is married to an influential young man, with whom she has 2 children. In marriage, she does not lose her feminine nature, loves to flirt, gambles, but is very pious. Anna is very attached to her older sister.

Nikolai Nikolaevich Mirza-Bulat-Tuganovsky

Brother of Vera and Anna Nikolaevna. He works as an assistant prosecutor, a very serious guy by nature, with strict rules. Nikolai is not wasteful, far from feelings of sincere love. It is he who asks Zheltkov to stop writing to Vera Nikolaevna.

General Anosov

An old military general, a former friend of the late father of Vera, Anna and Nikolai. A participant in the Russian-Turkish war, he was wounded. He has no family or children, but is close to Vera and Anna like his own father. He is even called “grandfather” in the Sheins’ house.

This work is full of different symbols and mysticism. It is based on the story of one man's tragic and unrequited love. At the end of the novel, the tragedy of the story takes on even greater proportions, because the heroine realizes the severity of loss and unconscious love.

Today the novel “The Garnet Bracelet” is very popular. It describes great feelings of love, sometimes even dangerous, lyrical, with a tragic ending. This has always been relevant among the population, because love is immortal. In addition, the main characters of the work are described very realistically. After the publication of the story, A. Kuprin gained high popularity.

V.N. Aydarova

In all the variety of topics raised in the works of A.I. Kuprin, whose work K. Paustovsky rightly called “an encyclopedia of life science,” stands out one cherished theme, which the writer addresses very carefully and reverently – the theme of love. “In the Dark”, “Holy Love”, “Stoletnik”, “Olesya”, “Shulamith”, “Helen”, “Pomegranate Bracelet” and many more works by A.I. Kuprin raise the problem of love, this “greatest secret in the world.”

In a letter to F.D. To Batyushkov in the summer of 1906, Kuprin admitted: “Love is the brightest and most understandable reproduction of my “I.”

Individuality is not expressed in strength, not in dexterity, not in intelligence, not in talent, not in voice, not in colors, not in gait, not in creativity. But in love...

What is love? Like women and like Christ, I will answer with the question: “What is truth? What is time? Space? Gravity?

In the words of the hero of “The Duel” Nazansky, Kuprin idealizes a selfless platonic feeling: “... how much varied happiness and charming torment lies in... hopeless love! When I was younger, I had one dream: to fall in love with an unattainable, extraordinary woman, one, you know, with whom I could never have anything in common. Fall in love and devote your whole life to her.”

The impulse towards the ideal, purified of all worldly romantic feelings of A.I. Kuprin will remain for life. Already in old age, in emigration, for a number of years he retired and wrote tenderly and respectfully love letters to a woman whom he knew very little, but whom he loved with intimate love.

And one more interesting evidence. K. Paustovsky notes that Kuprin often said that he became a writer completely by accident and that his own fame surprised him. The writer's biographers state that in 1894, Lieutenant Kuprin retired from the army and settled in Kyiv. At first he was poor, but soon he began working in Kyiv newspapers and writing. Before this, Kuprin wrote very little.

What made the young officer resign and change his life so dramatically? Is it just the “leaden abominations” of army reality, although they are probably in the first place. However, there was also a story in Kuprin’s life in which love, youthful recklessness and a combination of tragic circumstances and the collapse of hopes were closely intertwined.

We learn about this little-known episode from Kuprin’s life from the memoirs of Maria Karlovna Kuprina-Iordanskaya, the writer’s first wife. We will also learn about the fatal role that Kyiv will play in his fate.

After graduating from the Aleksaidrovsky Military School in Moscow, Alexander Kuprin, with the rank of second lieutenant, was sent to the 46th Dnieper Infantry Regiment, stationed in the provincial towns of the Podolsk province - Proskurov and Volochisk. Kuprin served in Proskurov for the third year, when one day at a regimental ball in the officers' meeting he met a young 17-year-old girl, Verochka, and... fell in love. Verochka came from a wealthy aristocratic family, her parents died, and she lived with her sister, who was married to the captain. God knows how these people ended up in that provincial regiment. Kuprin began dating Verochka, who responded with obvious sympathy, but his sister and the captain found out about their dates. Kuprin was summoned and given an indispensable condition: his relatives would agree to this marriage if the young man graduated from the Academy of the General Staff and a military career, “exit” to high society, acquaintances, and connections would open before him.

In the summer of 1883, Kuprin left Proskurov to St. Petersburg to take exams at the Academy. His path runs through Kyiv. There he meets former fellow students in the cadet corps, who persuade him to stay for two days to celebrate the meeting. On the day of departure, the young officers went to the banks of the Dnieper, where some entrepreneur set up a restaurant on an old barge moored to the shore. The officers sat down at a table when suddenly a police officer approached them with the words that the table had been reserved for the bailiff and a demand to immediately vacate the seats. Army officers always disliked the gendarmerie; they considered it humiliating to communicate with the police, and therefore did not pay attention to the police officer. The same one behaved impudently, began to shout, forbidding the owner of the establishment to serve the gentlemen officers. And then something unimaginable happened. The policeman flew overboard into the water. The audience laughed and applauded. He was sent to “cool down” by none other than Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin. The policeman got up covered in mud (the barge was standing near the shore in a shallow place) and began to draw up an act on the “utopia of the police rank in the performance of official duties.”

In Kyiv, Kuprin spent all his savings, and upon arrival in St. Petersburg he had a “tough time.” His new officer friends called him to “have a party,” but Kuprin hid his deplorable lack of money from them, making the excuse that he was invited to dinner with his rich aunt, and he himself ate only black bread, which he carefully cut into portions and did not allow himself to eat more than one at once. parts. Sometimes, unable to bear it, he would go into a sausage shop and ask the owner to give fatter sausage scraps for his aunt’s beloved cat. In fact, both the aunt and the cat were fictitious, and the second lieutenant himself, secluded and hiding, greedily pounced on food.

Kuprin brilliantly passed the exams at the Academy of the General Staff. The head of the Academy himself praised him. Kuprin already saw himself in his dreams as a brilliant officer of the General Staff and, in the near future, Verochka’s husband.

But suddenly a paper arrives from Kyiv, from the commander of the Kyiv Military District, General Dragomirov, in which it was reported that Second Lieutenant Kuprin on such and such a date, in such and such a year, committed an offense discrediting the honor of the officer. This was followed by an order: to prohibit admission to the Academy of the General Staff for a period of 5 years. It was a disappointment, a disaster. Verochka was lost forever...

Kuprin even wanted to shoot himself, but the revolver was sold to pay off his debts. Kuprin immediately submits his resignation from the army and resigns. His military career was over forever... He returned to Kyiv, ill-fated for him, where, in need and hardship, he would try many professions: he would work as a loader on a river pier, at one time he would even act as a lightweight wrestler in a circus, he would try many more jobs, but all of them will be temporary and will not bring significant income. Sometimes, in moments of severe lack of money, he could be seen spending the night in the open air among beggars and vagabonds on the slopes of the Mariinsky Park. Finally, Kuprin manages to get a job as a typesetter in a printing house, and from time to time he brings notes about street incidents to the editorial office of the newspaper printed there. According to Kuprin himself: “...gradually I got involved in newspaper work, and a year later I became a real newspaperman and quickly wrote feuilletons on various topics.” Collected material for the essays “Kyiv Types”. Thus, it was precisely the complex set of circumstances in which love, the incident in Kyiv and disappointment, unfulfilled dreams were intertwined that largely contributed to the decision to change my own life and devote it to creativity, where works about love occupy a special place.

In 1910 A.I. Kuprin planned to create a “sad story,” a “very sweet” thing, as he said, for him. “I don’t know what will happen, but when I think about her, I cry. Recently I told one good actress - I’m crying. I will say one thing: I have never written anything more chaste.” Kuprin creates the “Garnet Bracelet”. Many characters had their own life prototypes. “This is...the sad story of a little telegraph official P.P. Zholtikov, who was so hopelessly, touchingly and selflessly in love with Lyubimov’s wife.” Once, while visiting, the writer heard from a prominent official of the State Chancellery Lyubimov an ironically told story about the persecution of his wife Lyudmila Ivanovna (nee Tugan-Baranovskaya) with vulgar letters written by a certain telegraph operator, as well as about a gift sent to her on Easter Day - a bracelet in the form of a thick gilded inflated chain, from which was suspended a small red enamel egg with the engraved words: “Christ is risen, dear Lima. P.P.J." The indignant husband - in "The Garnet Bracelet" Prince Vasily Lvovich Shein and his brother-in-law - the prim Nikolai Nikolaevich Tugan-Baranovsky (the name has not been changed in the story) found the telegraph operator Pyotr Petrovich Zholtikov (in the "Garnet Bracelet" the poor official Zheltkov) and demanded to stop the persecution. Zholtikov was transferred to the province, where he soon married. Kuprin will change this somewhat “rough” story, give it a different content, interpret the events in his own way and create one of the most poetic and sad stories about tragic and only love.

In “The Garnet Bracelet,” the writer touches on various aspects of the problem of love, and above all, the problem of true love, “one, all-forgiving, ready for anything, modest and selfless,” such that occurs “only once in a thousand years” and the problem of “appearance » love.

One of the characters in the story says that people have forgotten how to love, love has taken on vulgar forms and has descended to everyday convenience and little entertainment. "Why do people get married?" - says a man of the older generation, wise in life, General Anosov. And he names several reasons: women because of “shame” to remain girls, reluctance to be an extra mouth in the family, desire to be a housewife. Men mainly because of everyday amenities: tired of a single life, from disorder, bad dinners, “from dirt, cigarette butts, torn... linen, from debts, from unceremonious comrades...”. Last but not least is the benefit: “living as a family is more profitable, healthier and more economical.” Anosov names several more reasons and draws a disappointing conclusion: “I don’t see true love. And I didn’t even see it in my time.” He tells two cases that are only similar to real feelings, both ending tragically, dictated by stupidity and causing only pity.

There is no love between husband and wife Friesse: Anna cannot tolerate her stupid but rich chamber cadet Gustav Ivanovich, and at the same time gave birth to two children from him. He adores her, who has attracted the attention of many men, but he adores her smugly, so much so that “he becomes embarrassed for him.”

In the family of Princess Vera, as it seems to her, an atmosphere of love and lasting, faithful, true friendship reigns. Twice in a conversation with the general, Vera Nikolaevna cites her marriage as an exceptional example of happy love: “Take Vasya and me. Can we call our marriage unhappy? But in the first case, the general hesitates to answer: “...he was silent for quite a long time. Then he drawled out reluctantly: “Well, okay... let’s say it’s an exception...” And for the second time he interrupts Vera’s words, saying that he meant something completely different - true love: “Who knows, maybe the future will show it love in the light of great beauty. But you understand... No life’s conveniences, calculations or compromises should concern her.” Kuprin introduces many touches that reveal the nature of the relationships in the Sheyny family. The family maintains the appearance of prosperity, the prince occupies a prominent position in society, but he himself barely makes ends meet. He lives above his means, because, according to his position, he has to give receptions, do charity work, dress well, keep horses, etc. And he does not notice that Vera, trying to help the prince avoid ruin, saves on herself, denies herself a lot.

On Vera’s birthday, the prince promises to bring a few and only his closest acquaintances to dinner, but among the guests are the local vice-governor von Seck, the socialite young rich loafer and reveler Vasyuchok, Professor Speshnikov, Staff Colonel Ponomarev - those people with whom Vera is barely familiar , but who are included in the St. Petersburg world. Moreover, Vera is seized by a superstitious fear - “a bad feeling”, because there are thirteen guests. Prince Vasily is inattentive to Vera. At his birthday party, he presents to the guests the illustrated poem “Princess Vera and the Telegraph Operator in Love,” and when his wife asks him to stop, he pretends that he did not hear her words or did not attach importance to them, and will continue his, as it seems to him, witty narrative, in in which he will present himself in a noble light, Vera in a funny one, and P.P.Zh. in the pitiful and vulgar; He won’t even bother to remember the real initials G.S.Zh., with which the letters addressed to Vera were signed, this poor man is so petty and insignificant for Prince Shein. But when Vasily Lvovich finds out about the gift - a garnet bracelet, he is indignant that the story can get publicity in society and put him in a funny and disadvantageous position, since the addressee is not a person of their circle.; Together with his prim, pompous brother-in-law, Prince Vasily is going to “take action.” They are looking for Zheltkov and during the conversation they emphasize their disdain for him: they do not respond to the greeting - Zheltkov’s outstretched hand, they neglect the invitation to sit down and drink a glass of tea, pretending that they did not hear the proposal. Nikolai Nikolaevich with impudence even threatens Zheltkov with the opportunity to turn to the authorities for help, and Vasily Lvovich responds with arrogant silence to Zheltkov’s readiness to satisfy the prince’s claims with a duel. Perhaps he considers it shameful for himself to stoop to a duel with a person of the lower class, perhaps, moreover, he values ​​​​his life too much. In all their behavior one can see an arrogant posture - unnatural and false.

Kuprin shows that people, with rare exceptions, have forgotten how not only to love, but also to be sincere. The natural is being replaced by the artificial, the conventional. Spirituality disappears, replaced by its appearance. An interesting artistic detail in this regard is the gift received by Princess Vera on her birthday from Anna: an old prayer book, converted into an elegant lady's notebook.

This object detail is a sign of the loss of spirituality and its replacement with only visible beauty. After all, Anna was famous for her “piety”, she even secretly converted to Catholicism, and she herself, as will be said, willingly indulged in the most risky flirtations in all the capitals and resorts of Europe. She wore a hair shirt, but exposed much more than the limits allowed by decency.

Another gift the princess received on her birthday from her husband also seems significant - earrings made of pear-shaped pearls. As you know, pearls belong to the category of so-called “cold” jewelry, and therefore, in associative terms, this gift may be correlated with coldness - the absence of true love between Prince Vasily and Vera. In addition, the pear-shaped shape of the earrings resembles, albeit vaguely, tears - a sign of Vera’s future insight and disappointment in her own marriage, devoid of true love. The motif of cold also unfolds in the landscape: “Dahlias, peonies and asters bloomed luxuriantly with their cold, arrogant beauty, spreading... a sad smell,” “the cold of the evenings,” “the coolness of the night,” etc. It should be noted that the landscape in the story A.I. Kuprina is the truest indicator of inner human life. The idea of ​​the absence of love is also intensified thanks to the motif of emptiness in the depiction of a sad picture of autumn: “It was even sadder to see the abandoned dachas with their sudden spaciousness, emptiness and bareness...”, “compressed fields”, “trees silently and obediently dropping yellow leaves” , “empty flower beds”, etc.

The landscape seems to emphasize Vera’s loneliness. K. Paustovsky noted: “It’s hard to say why, but the brilliant and farewell damage to nature... imparts a special bitterness and strength to the narrative.”

Vera admits to her sister that the sea, when she gets used to it, begins to crush her “with its flat emptiness... I miss...”. And now, into her measured, calm, happy life with the everyday life of family life (Vera was “strictly simple, cold and haughtily kind to everyone, independent and royally calm”), an exceptional circumstance bursts in, an unexpected third gift - a garnet bracelet and a letter sent by an unknown young man . Vera initially perceives this gift as an annoying, vulgar claim. And the bracelet itself seems rough and vulgar to her: “... low-grade, very thick,... puffy and with poorly polished garnets...”. However, when Vera accidentally turns the bracelet in the light, “lovely, deep red lights suddenly lit up in the grenades.” From the letter, Vera learns about that omnipotent, selfless feeling of love, which does not hope for or pretend to anything, a feeling of reverence, devotion, ready to sacrifice everything, even life. From this moment on, the motive of true love begins to sound in the story. Both this gift and this letter seem to begin to highlight everything in a different light. What seemed vulgar suddenly turns out to be sincere and genuine. And what was seen as true suddenly appears false.

In comparison with this letter, Vasily Lvovich’s “satirical” poem, parodying a genuine feeling, seems vulgar and blasphemous. Kuprin's heroes seem to be tested by love. According to the writer, a person manifests himself most clearly in love.

Another interesting detail associated with the garnet bracelet; Zheltkov’s letter will say that, according to an old family legend, the bracelet gives the gift of foresight to women wearing it and drives away heavy thoughts from them, while it protects men from violent death. As soon as Zheltkov parted with the garnet bracelet, this prophetic and tragic predestination comes true. We can say that by giving this bracelet to Vera Nikolaevna, the young man brings her not only his love, but also his life. The garnet bracelet gives Vera the ability to have a special vision - not only to anticipate the subsequent course of events (“I know he will kill himself”), but also more broadly - the garnet bracelet as an unexpected gift - love-illumination, as a result, gives Vera Nikolaevna an understanding of the essence of true love. “Blinded” previously only by “visible” love (cf. also: thick fog, roadless landscape), Princess Vera suddenly begins to see clearly and understands that the love that every woman dreams of has passed her by.

For true love is “the greatest mystery in the world.” According to Kuprin, love lies “the whole meaning of life - the whole universe.” The convergence of concepts, the convergence of semantics “love-life” can also be traced in the color symbolism of the stones of the garnet bracelet: in the center - green, traditionally associated with life, framed by red garnets, in their conventional semantics going back to the meaning of love. However, the traditional symbolism of the color red is also associated with the meanings of blood and tragedy (“Exactly blood!” Vera thought with unexpected alarm and then could not take her eyes off the “bloody lights trembling inside the pomegranates”).

The writer interprets love as the greatest happiness and the greatest tragedy.

Already the landscape that begins the story gives rise to a premonition of tragedy. The description of the raging elements is built on the principle of growth: thick fog - fine as water dust, rain - a ferocious hurricane - a raging sea that takes the lives of people. The foreboding of the tragedy is enhanced by the sound sequence of roar - thunder - howl: "... a huge siren roared day and night, like a mad bull", "iron roofs rattled", "howled wildly in... pipes." And suddenly the storm gives way to a picture of calm, clear, bright nature.

Such a sharp change in the states of nature further intensifies the premonition of some huge event that is soon to take place and in which light and darkness, happiness and sorrow, life and death are united.

The premonition of tragedy thickens the motive of death, traced in the “satirical” poem by Vasya Shein (the telegraph operator dies at the end of the poem), in Anosov’s stories about two cases of unrequited love, in the landscape (“... the sunset burned out. The last crimson... stripe that was actually glowing went out. edge of the horizon"), in the portrait of Zheltkov (deathly pallor and lips “white... like those of a dead person”), in his message (“Yours before death and after death, your humble servant”), etc.

Kuprin interprets love as the greatest tragedy, since the social aspect, the social division of people, intervenes, thanks to the conventions of which the thought of love between the princess and the poor official is impossible.

In addition, love-tragedy and love-happiness mean selfless, united, all-forgiving love, ready for anything: “the kind of love for which to accomplish any feat, to give one’s life, to suffer torment is not work at all, but one joy.” This is exactly what Zheltkov’s unrequited love is like. In his last dying letter, he speaks of his love as enormous happiness, joy and consolation, of love as God’s reward, thanks Vera only for the fact that she exists, idolizes her: “Leaving, I say in delight: “Yes.” Hallowed be Thy name." This love is “strong as death” and stronger than death.

Love is a tragedy, for it is an eternally elevating and purifying feeling, equal in inspiration to great art. Zheltkov's last note and his last letter contain a request for a Beethoven sonata. Kuprin puts this sonata in the epigraph to the entire story, arguing that love, like art, is the highest form of beauty.

Thanks to Zheltkova’s selfless love, Vera Nikolaevna finally understood what true love is, and at this moment of insight, she seemed to gain the great power of love that unites souls.

L-ra: Russian language and literature in educational institutions. – 2000. – No. 6. – P. 1-6.

The work “The Garnet Bracelet,” the analysis of which we will now present in this article, is read by everyone - both students and adults who graduated from school a long time ago. And all because Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin is a great master of short prose; his stories, which so vividly describe the brightest feelings, have their own unique style and help to understand the subtle notes of the soul of a Russian person. That is why now we will look at the analysis of the story “Garnet Bracelet”.

What a story

The plot of the story was based on a real story that Kuprin learned. The love of one telegraph official for a married lady led to the fact that he could no longer hide his feelings and decided to give her a gift. So, the main character, whose name is Sheina Vera Nikolaevna, is presented with a very interesting decoration as a gift. Not only does the note suggest that the gift was made by a secret admirer, it also talks about the properties of green pomegranate. And the gift is a garnet bracelet. The giver is sure that the owner of this stone gets the opportunity to foresee.

In the analysis of the story “The Garnet Bracelet”, it is important to note that the green garnet becomes a symbol of passionate love and ardent feelings. Princess Sheina, who received the gift, decides to tell her husband that she received such a gift and even gives him the attached note to read. The reader soon learns that the secret admirer is the hero of the story Zheltkov. He serves as a minor official and has long been in love with the princess. Although after it becomes known about him, Zheltkov receives threats from Sheina’s brother and other offensive words, thanks to his love he endures everything.

In the end, in order to avert shame from his beloved, Zheltkov takes his own life. Even without making a deep analysis of the story “The Garnet Bracelet,” it is clear that the princess only after these sad events understands how deep and pure the feelings of the poor official Zheltkov were. But she understands not only this, but something else important.

Kuprin reveals the theme of love

The image of Zheltkov, which runs like a red thread through the entire narrative, shows what selfless and self-sacrificing love can be in a person’s heart. Without betraying his feelings, Zheltkov decides to say goodbye to life. However, changes are also taking place in Princess Sheina, and this is thanks to Zheltkov’s love. Now Vera again wants to feel that she is loved and wants to love herself, and this becomes the central theme of the story “The Garnet Bracelet,” which we are now analyzing. After all, during the time that the main character is married, she practically forgets about feelings and goes with the flow.

What meaning did Kuprin put into the symbol of the garnet bracelet? Firstly, thanks to this bracelet, Princess Vera realized that passion and love can be experienced again, and secondly, having received such a gift, she blossomed and fell in love with life again, again her days were filled with colors and emotions.

Alexander Kuprin attached great importance to the theme of love in his works, and this is clearly visible in “The Garnet Bracelet.” Love, as a pure feeling, should be in a person’s heart. Although the ending of the story is sad, the main character remained happy because she understood what feelings her soul is capable of.