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”, “Lenochka”, “ Garnet 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 opened up to him military career, “exit” to high society, acquaintances, connections.
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 classmates from 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 him 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 sleeping under 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 different 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 own life and dedicate it to creativity, where works about love occupy a special place.
In 1910 A.I. Kuprin planned to create " sad story“, “a very nice” thing, as he said, was 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 major 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 conveniences: tired of 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 makes a disappointing conclusion: “I don’t see true love. And in my time I didn’t see it.” 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 happy love: “Take Vasya and me for example. 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 had in mind something completely different - true love: “Who knows, maybe the future will show it love in the light 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 much.
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 secular young rich scamp 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 a person not 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 pose - 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 objective detail acts as a sign of the loss of spirituality and its replacement 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 cold - the absence 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 internal 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- This " greatest secret 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 color symbolism stones of a 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 go to 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 Your 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 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 great power love that unites souls.
L-ra: Russian language and literature in educational institutions. – 2000. – No. 6. – P. 1-6.
One of the most famous works about tragic love in Russian literature, in which Kuprin explores “love-tragedy”, shows its origins and the role of this feeling in a person’s life, and this research is carried out against a socio-psychological background, which largely determines everything that happens to heroes, but cannot fully explain the phenomenon of love as a feeling that, according to the writer, is beyond the boundaries of cause-and-effect relationships understandable to reason, depending on some higher will.
The creative history of the story “The Garnet Bracelet,” which we will analyze, is widely known: its characters are not fictional, each of them has prototypes, and the “story with the bracelet” itself actually happened in the family of a prominent official, Prince D.N. Lyubimov (member of the State Council), whose wife Lyudmila Ivanovna was presented with a vulgar “garnet bracelet” by the apt telegraph official P. P. Zheltkov; this gift was insulting, the donor was easily identified, and after a conversation with Lyudmila Ivanovna’s husband and brother (in the story - Nikolai Nikolaevich), he disappeared from her life forever. All this is true, but Kuprin heard this story back in 1902, and the story was written in 1910... Obviously, the writer needed time for the first impressions of what he heard to be embodied in artistic images, so that the story from life (quite funny as presented by D.N. Lyubimov...) turns into a truly tragic story of sublime love, “which women dream about and which men are no longer capable of.”
The plot of the story “The Garnet Bracelet” is simple: on her name day, Vera Nikolaevna Sheina, “the wife of the leader of the nobility,” receives a garnet bracelet as a gift, sent by her longtime admirer since her girlhood, informs her husband about this, and he, under her influence brother, goes to the mysterious "G.S.Zh.", they demand that he stop pursuing a married woman who belongs to high society, he asks permission to call Vera Nikolaevna, after which he promises to leave her alone - and the next day she finds out about that he shot himself. As we can see, outwardly the story almost repeats life, only in life, fortunately, the ending was not so tragic. However, psychologically everything is much more complicated; Kuprin did not describe, but creatively reworked a real-life incident.
First of all, it is necessary to dwell on the conflict in the story “The Garnet Bracelet”. Here we see an external conflict - between the world of “high society”, to which the heroine belongs, and the world of petty officials, they are “not supposed” to experience any feelings towards women like Vera Nikolaevna - and Zheltkov has long, selflessly, been able to I can even say that he loves her selflessly. Here are the origins of the internal conflict: love, it turns out, can become the meaning of life for a person, what he lives for and what he serves, and everything else - “in Zheltkov’s way” - are just unnecessary things for a person that distract him from the main thing in life. His life purpose is to serve the person he loves. It is easy to notice that both external and internal conflicts works become the main way to reveal characters characters who manifest themselves in how they relate to love, how they understand the nature of this feeling and its place in the life of every person.
Probably, the author expresses his understanding of what love is in the words of General Anosov, spoken by him at Vera Nikolaevna’s birthday: “Love should be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world! No life’s conveniences, calculations and compromises should concern it.” Author's position morally, it is indeed uncompromising, and in the story “The Garnet Bracelet” Kuprin explores why such love (and it exists in life, the author convinces the reader of this!) is doomed.
To understand the events taking place in the story, you need to understand what kind of relationship connects Vera Nikolaevna and Vasily Lvovich Shein. At the very beginning of the story, the author says about this: “Princess Vera, whose former passionate love for her husband has long turned into a feeling of lasting, faithful, sincere friendship...” This is very important: the heroes know what true love is, only in in their lives it happened that their feeling was reborn into friendship, which is probably also necessary in the relationship between spouses, but not instead of love?.. But the one who himself has experienced the feeling of love can understand another person, the one who loves - Unlike people who never knew in life what it is - true love, that’s why Prince Vasily Lvovich behaves so unusually, whose wife received such a compromising, if not offensive, message (this is how Vera’s brother, Nikolai Nikolaevich Tuganovsky, perceives him , who insisted on visiting Zheltkov) congratulations.
On the name day scene, after which the conversation between the Sheins and Nikolai Nikolaevich took place, we should dwell in more detail because it is very important for understanding the role that, as the author believes, love plays in a person’s life. After all, at Princess Vera’s name day, quite prosperous people gathered, who seem to be “doing well” in life, but why do they talk so enthusiastically about this feeling - about love? Maybe because the love of the Sheins turned into “friendship”, Anna Nikolaevna “couldn’t stand her husband... but gave birth to two children from him - a boy and a girl...”? Because any person, no matter what he says about love, secretly believes in it and expects that in his life there will be this bright feeling that changes life?..
Interesting compositional technique, which Kuprin uses when creating the image of Zheltkov: this hero appears almost at the very end of the story, appears as if for a moment (conversation with guests), in order to disappear forever, but his appearance is prepared both by the story with the gift and the story about his attitude towards Princess Vera, so it seems to the reader that he has known this hero for a long time. And yet the real Zheltkov turns out to be completely different from the “hero-lover”, as perhaps the reader’s imagination depicted him: “Now he has become completely visible: very pale, with a gentle girlish face, with blue eyes and a stubborn childish chin with a dimple in the middle; he must have been about thirty, thirty-five years old." At first he feels very awkward, but this is just awkwardness, he is not afraid of his distinguished guests, and he finally calms down when Nikolai Nikolaevich begins to threaten him. This happens because that he feels protected by his love, it, love, cannot be taken away from him, this is the feeling that defines his life, and it will remain with him until the end of this life.
After Zheltkov receives permission from Prince Shein and goes to call Vera Nikolaevna, Nikolai Nikolaevich reproaches his relative for his indecision, to which Vasily Lvovich replies: “Really, think, Kolya, is he to blame for love and is it possible to control such a feeling, like love - a feeling that has not yet found an interpreter... I feel sorry for this man, and not only do I feel sorry for him, but I feel that I am present at some enormous tragedy of the soul, and I cannot. here to clown around." For Nikolai Nikolaevich, what is happening is “This is decadence,” but Vasily Lvovich, who knows what love is, feels completely differently, and his heart turns out to be more accurate in understanding what is happening... It is no coincidence that Zheltkov in the conversation addressed only Prince Vasily , and the highest wisdom of their conversation was that both spoke the language of love...
Zheltkov passed away, but before his death he sent a letter to a woman, for whose peace he gladly decided to take this step. In this letter, he explains what exactly happened to him: “I tested myself - this is not a disease, not a manic idea - this is love, with which God wanted to reward me for something.” So he gave the answer to the question that tormented Princess Vera: “And what was it: love or madness?” A very convincing, irrefutable answer, because it was given the way Zheltkov did, the price of this answer is a person’s life...
The fact that Zheltkov truly loves Princess Vera is evidenced, among other things, by the fact that even with his death he made her happy. By forgiving her - although what is her fault?.. Is it “that the love that every woman dreams of passed her by”? But, if this happened, wasn’t it so destined from above that he was sent? tragic love Zheltkov? Maybe true love, as General Anosov said, is always tragic - and this is what determines its authenticity?
The tragic ending of the story "The Garnet Bracelet" does not leave a feeling of hopelessness - no matter what! After all, if true love exists in the world, does it mean that it makes people happy, no matter what they have to go through? Zheltkov died happy because he could do something for the woman he loved, can he be judged for this? Vera Nikolaevna is happy because “he has forgiven me now. Everything is fine.” To what extent is this tragic fate The heroes are “more humane” than life without love, how much they, who have suffered and are suffering, are spiritually higher and humanly happier than those who did not know true feelings in their lives! Truly, Kuprin's story is a hymn to love, without which life makes life...
I can't help but mention the amazing artistic detail, which is the central metaphor of the story. In the description of the bracelet there are the following lines: “But in the middle of the bracelet rose, surrounding some strange small green stone, five beautiful cabochon garnets, each the size of a pea.” This “strange little green stone” is also a garnet, only it is a rare garnet of an unusual color, which not everyone can recognize, especially against the backdrop of “beautiful cabochon garnets.” Just like Zheltkov’s love is a real, only very rare, feeling that is as difficult to recognize as a pomegranate in a small green stone. But because people are not able to understand what is revealed to their eyes, a pomegranate does not cease to be a pomegranate, and love does not cease to be love... They exist, they exist, and it is not their fault that people are simply not ready for meeting them... This is probably one of the main lessons tragic story, told by Kuprin: you need to be very careful about yourself, about people, about your own and other people’s feelings, so that when “God rewards” a person with love, you can see, understand and preserve this great feeling.
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 most bright 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 is the story about?
The basis for the plot of the story was real story, which Kuprin recognized. 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 central theme the story “The Garnet Bracelet,” which we are currently analyzing. After all, during the time that main character 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 is like pure feeling, must 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.
A.I. Kuprin has one cherished theme. He touches her chastely and reverently. This is the theme of love. He created many brilliant works of art, remaining faithful to the heroes and high, romantic and boundless love.
One of the most beautiful and sad stories about love is “The Garnet Bracelet” (1911).
The writer will discover the great gift of love in the most ordinary surroundings, in the heart of a simple, unremarkable-looking person. And the world of vulgarity, well-fed complacency will be shaken by that beautiful and all-consuming, albeit unrequited feeling that the poor official Zheltkov, the hero of this story, experienced as great happiness.
What gives “The Pomegranate Bracelet” a special power is that in it love exists as an unexpected gift among everyday life, among sober reality and established everyday life. The unprecedented gift of high and unrequited love became Zheltkov’s “tremendous happiness.” This raises him above other heroes: the rude Tuganovsky, the frivolous Anna, the conscientious Shein and the wise Anosov. The beautiful Vera Nikolaevna herself leads a familiar, seemingly drowsy existence, expressively shaded by a coldish autumn landscape falling asleep nature. Faith is “independent and royally calm.” This calmness destroys Zheltkov.
The story is not about the emergence of Vera’s love, but rather about her spiritual awakening, which takes place first in the sphere of premonitions, and then of internal contradictions. The letter and gift already sent by Zheltkov - a bracelet with five deep red (“like blood”) grenades - cause “unexpected” anxiety in the heroine. From this moment on, her painful expectation of misfortune increases, right up to the premonition of Zheltkov’s death. At Tuganovsky’s request to disappear, Zheltkov actually ends his life.
Vera's farewell to the ashes young man, their only “date” is a turning point in her inner state. On the face of the deceased she read “the same peaceful expression” as “on the masks of the great sufferers - Pushkin and Napoleon.” “At that second she realized that the love that every woman dreams of had passed her by.”
The writer endowed his heroine with much greater possibilities than just a person’s disappointment in himself. In the finale, Vera's excitement reaches its limit. To the sounds of a Beethoven sonata - Zheltkov bequeathed to listen to it - Vera, in tears of pain, repentance, enlightenment, comprehends “a life that has humbly and joyfully doomed itself to torment... and death.” Now this life will forever remain with her and for her under the final refrain of the story: “Hallowed be thy name!”
Kuprin cried over the manuscript of the “Garnet Bracelet”. He said that he had never written anything more chaste. The writer surprisingly sensitively included a story about a tragic and only love in the setting of a southern coastal autumn. The brilliant and farewell state of nature, transparent days, the silent sea, dry stalks of corn, the emptiness of dachas abandoned for the winter - all this imparts a special bitterness and strength to the story. And the gentle whisper of the trees, the light breeze brightens the bitterness of the heroine, as if blessing her with a faithful memory of Zheltkov, with sensitivity to true beauty, imperishable love.
The theme of love never dried up in Kuprin’s prose. He has many subtle and excellent stories about love, about the expectation of love, about its tragic outcomes, about its poetry, longing and eternal youth. Kuprin always and everywhere blessed love. He sent "a great blessing to everything: the earth, the waters, the trees, the flowers, the skies, the smells, the people, the animals and the eternal goodness and eternal beauty contained in a woman."
An analysis of the work “The Garnet Bracelet” has been done more than once by famous literary scholars. Paustovsky also noted the extraordinary strength and truthfulness that Kuprin was able to impart to a plot that appeared several centuries ago in medieval novels, namely the story of great and unrequited love. Talk about the meaning and significance of the story in fiction can take a very long time, but this article contains only the most important details for understanding and studying it.
Kuprin's creativity
Briefly analyzing the "Garnet Bracelet", we should begin with a description of the general artistic features works. The most striking among them are:
- The abundance and variety of themes, images, plots, which are always based on life experience. Almost all of Kuprin's stories are based on events that actually took place in reality. The characters have real prototypes - according to the writer himself, this is Lyudmila Ivanovna Tugan-Baranovskaya, married Lyubimova, her husband, brother and father I. Ya. Tugan-Baranovsky, participant Caucasian War. The features of Lyubimova’s father are reflected in the image of General Anosov. The Friesse couple is, according to contemporaries, Elena Tugan-Baranovskaya, Lyudmila’s older sister, and her husband, Gustav (Evstafiy) Nikolaevich Nitte.
- Image little man, which the writer ideologically inherited from Chekhov. He plays an important role in the analysis of “The Garnet Bracelet”: Kuprin explores the life of this image against the background of the completely vicious, meaningless existence of the rest of society: the writer does not idealize the latter, but creates one ideal to which it is worth striving.
- Romanticization, poeticization wonderful feeling(this follows from the last words of the previous paragraph). Sublime, “not of this world” love is placed in contrast to everyday life.
- Enrichment with the beginning of events is not the main, but worthy of mention when analyzing “The Garnet Bracelet” feature of Kuprin’s prose. This stylistic feature comes from the authenticity of the plots and characters. The writer does not extract poetry from the world of fiction, but looks for it in real world, in seemingly ordinary stories.
Vera Sheina
When starting an analysis of the Garnet Bracelet, you should pay attention to the details. The story begins with a description of nature: seaside autumn, fading flowers, calm weather - an even, indifferent calm in everything. The image of Vera Nikolaevna goes well with this weather: her “aristocratic beauty”, restraint, even some arrogance in dealing with people makes the princess alienated, devoid of vitality. This is also emphasized in her relationship with her husband, which has long cooled down and turned into an even friendship unclouded by any feelings. For Kuprin, who considered love one of the most important feelings in human life, her absence in marriage is a clear indicator of the coldness and soullessness of the heroine.
Everything that surrounds Princess Vera Nikolaevna - estate, nature, relationship with her husband, lifestyle, character - is calm, sweet, good. Kuprin emphasizes: this is not life, this is only existence.
In the analysis of "The Garnet Bracelet" one cannot ignore the image of Sister Anna. It is given for contrast: her bright appearance, lively, agile facial expressions and manner of speech, way of life - frivolity, inconstancy, frivolous flirting in marriage - everything is contrasted with Vera. Anna has two children and loves the sea. She is alive.
Princess Vera has no children, and she quickly gets tired of the sea: “I love the forest.” She is cold and reasonable. Vera Nikolaevna is not alive.
Name day and gift
When analyzing Kuprin's "Garnet Bracelet", it is convenient to follow the plot, which gradually reveals the details of the story. In the fifth chapter, the mysterious admirer of Vera Nikolaevna is talked about for the first time. In the next chapter, the reader learns his story: Vera’s husband, Vasily Lvovich, presents her to the guests as a curiosity and mocks the unfortunate telegraph operator. However, Vera Nikolaevna has a slightly different opinion: she first tries to ask her husband not to tell and then feels awkward, judging by the hasty “Gentlemen, who wants tea?” Of course, Vera still considers her admirer and his love to be something ridiculous, even indecent, but she takes this story more seriously than her husband, Vasily Lvovich. About the red garnets on the gold bracelet, she thinks: “Exactly blood!” The same comparison is repeated once again: at the end of the chapter a paraphrase is used - and the stones turn into “scarlet bloody fires.” Kuprin compares the color of garnets with blood to emphasize: the stones are alive, just like the feeling of a telegraph operator in love.
General Anosov
Next in the plot is the old general's story about love. The reader met him back in the fourth chapter, and then the description of his life took up more space than the description of Vera’s life - that is, the history of this character is much more important. In the analysis of the story “The Garnet Bracelet”, it should be noted: the way of thinking of General Anosov was inherited from Kuprin himself - the writer put his idea of love into the words of the character.
The general believes that “people nowadays have forgotten how to love.” He sees around him only selfish relationships, sometimes cemented by marriage, and cites his wife as an example. Nevertheless, he has not yet lost his ideal: the general believes that that true, selfless and beautiful love exists, but does not expect to see it in reality. What he knows - “two similar cases” - is pitiful and absurd, although in this everyday everyday absurdity and clumsiness there is a spark true feeling.
Therefore, General Anosov, unlike Vera Nikolaevna’s husband and Nikolai Nikolaevich’s brother, takes the story of love letters seriously. He respects the feeling of a mysterious admirer, because behind the curiosity and naivety he was able to discern the image of true love - “one, all-forgiving, ready for anything, modest and selfless.”
Zheltkov
The reader manages to “see” Zheltkov only in the tenth chapter, and here in the analysis of “Garnet Bracelet” his characteristics are given. Zheltkov’s appearance complements and reveals his letters and actions. Noble appearance, conversation, and then the most important thing - how he behaves with Prince Shein and Nikolai Nikolaevich. At first, Zheltkov, who was worried, when he learns that Vera Nikolaevna’s brother thinks that this issue can be resolved by force, that with the help of power it is possible to force a person to give up feelings, he is completely transformed. He understands that he is spiritually higher, stronger than Nikolai Nikolaevich, that it is he who can understand feelings. Partly, this feeling is shared with Zheltkov by Prince Vasily Lvovich: he, unlike his brother-in-law, listens carefully to the words of his lover and will later tell Vera Nikolaevna that he believed and accepted the story of Zheltkov, extraordinary in his strength and purity of feeling, and understood his tragedy.
Bottom line
Concluding the analysis of “The Garnet Bracelet,” it is worth saying that if for the reader the question of whether Zheltkov’s feeling was the embodiment of true love or just a manic obsession remains open, then for Kuprin everything was obvious. And in the way Vera Nikolaevna perceived Zheltkov’s suicide, and in the feeling and in the tears that were caused by Beethoven’s sonata from his last letter, there is an awareness of that huge, true feeling that “happens only once in a thousand years.”
