Queen Of Spades Pushkin Analysis

When one looks through an objective lens, it becomes shockingly clear that life is one cyclical process. The old are replaced with the new. The strong succeed the weak. In one of the more climatic passages of Queen of Spades, Pushkin establishes the scenery for Herman’s confrontation with the Countess. This passage is the beginning of the culmination of Herman’s plan to engage the Countess. In this passage, Pushkin employs various literary devices and detailed description to foreshadow the impending death that will befall the Countess. Through clever literary devices and the aforementioned description, Pushkin is able to craftily lay out the basis for the upcoming passages. Right from the beginning Pushkin sets out to establish the scenery as a critical part of this passage. Multiple times he makes use of alliteration such as “A golden lamp glowed…” and “…gold embroidery stood in sad symmetry near the walls…”. Incorporating

With great attention to syntax, Pushkin gives Herman brief and decisive instances of activity. Occupying such a minor role in this passage, one would be hard pressed to give much thought into the meaning behind Herman’s role, especially with sentences like “Herman entered the bedroom.” and “Herman went behind the screen”. To a careless eye, these sentences may merely seem transitionary, but really they set up a minor, yet crucial character development. Herman is depicted as an extremely calculating and decisive man throughout the story and lives up to this fairly well, until the end of this passage. The ellipse present in the concluding sentence of the passage represents Herman’s point of no return. Here, he hesitates, if only for a moment, on whether to continue to the ward’s room or return to the bedroom. This pivotal point decides not only his own fate, but the Countess’ as well, unknowingly entwining their