Zheltkov’s love for Vera Sheina based on the story The Garnet Bracelet (Kuprin A.I.). Essay “Garnet bracelet: the theme of love Did the yolks truly love faith?”

01.07.2020

Yes, I foresee suffering, blood and death. And I think that it is difficult for the body to part with the soul, but, Beautiful One, praise to you, passionate praise and quiet love. "Hallowed be it Your name"...

In my sad dying hour, I pray only to you. Life could be wonderful for me too. Don't complain, poor heart, don't complain. In my soul I call upon death, but in my heart I am full of praise to you: “Hallowed be thy name”...

A. Kuprin

In the 20th century, in the era of cataclysms, during the period of political and social instability when a new attitude towards universal human values, love often became the only moral category that survived in a collapsing and dying world. The theme of love became central in the works of many writers at the beginning of the century. It became one of the central themes in the work of A. I. Kuprin. Love in his works is always unselfish, selfless, it is not touched by “any of life’s conveniences, calculations and compromises.” But this love is always tragic, obviously doomed to suffering. Heroes pass away. But their feelings stronger than death. Their feelings don't die. Is this why the images of “Olesya”, “The Duel”, “Shulamithi”, “ Garnet bracelet"?

The story "Shulamith" (1908), written based on the biblical Song of Songs, presents Kuprin's ideal of love. He describes such “tender and fiery, devoted and beautiful love, which alone is more valuable than wealth, glory and wisdom, which is more valuable than life itself, because it does not even value life and is not afraid of death.” The story "The Garnet Bracelet" (1911) was intended to prove that such love exists in modern world, and refute the opinion expressed in the work by General Anosov, the grandfather of the main character: “... love among people took... vulgar forms and simply descended to some kind of everyday convenience, to a little fun". And men are to blame for this, "at twenty years old, jaded, with chicken bodies and hare souls, incapable of strong desires, To heroic deeds, to tenderness and adoration before love..."

Kuprin presented the story, which others perceive as an anecdote about a telegraph operator who fell in love, as a touching and sublime Song of Songs about true love.

The hero of the story is Zheltkov G.S. Pan Ezhiy is an official of the control chamber, a young man of pleasant appearance, “about thirty, thirty-five years old.” He is “tall, thin, with long fluffy, soft hair”, “very pale, with a gentle girlish face, with blue eyes and a stubborn childish chin with a dimple in the middle." We learn that Zheltkov is musical and endowed with a sense of beauty. The spiritual appearance of the hero is revealed in his letters to Princess Vera Nikolaevna Sheina, in a conversation with her husband on the eve of suicide, but he is most fully characterized by "seven years of hopeless and polite love."

Vera Nikolaevna Sheina, with whom the hero is in love, attracts with her “aristocratic” beauty, inherited from her mother, “with her tall flexible figure, gentle, but cold and proud face, beautiful, although rather big hands and that charming sloping shoulders that can be seen in ancient miniatures." Zheltkov considers her extraordinary, sophisticated and musical. He "began to pursue her with his love" two years before his marriage. For the first time seeing the princess in a box at the circus, he said to himself: “I love her because there is nothing like her in the world, there is nothing better, there is no animal, no plant, no star, no... a more beautiful person... and more tender." He admits that since then he "has been interested in nothing in life: neither politics, nor science, nor philosophy, nor concern for the future happiness of people." For Zheltkov, in Vera Nikolaevna, "it’s as if “all the beauty of the earth.” It is no coincidence that he constantly talks about God: “God was pleased to send me, as great happiness, love for you,” “love with which God was pleased to reward me for something.”

At first, Zheltkov’s letters to Princess Vera were of a “vulgar and curiously ardent” nature, “although they were quite chaste.” But over time, he began to reveal his feelings more restrainedly and delicately: “I blush at the memory of my audacity seven years ago, when I dared to write stupid and wild letters to you, young lady... Now only awe, eternal admiration remains in me and slavish devotion." “For me, my whole life lies only in you,” writes Zheltkov to Vera Nikolaevna. In this life, every moment is precious to him when he sees the princess or watches her with excitement at a ball or in the theater. Leaving this life, he burns everything dear to his heart: Vera’s handkerchief, which she forgot at the ball in the Noble Assembly, her note asking “not to bother her anymore with your outpourings of love,” the program art exhibition, which the princess held in her hand, and then forgot on the chair when leaving.

Knowing full well that his feelings are unrequited, Zheltkov hopes and is “even sure” that someday Vera Nikolaevna will remember him. She, without even suspecting it, hurts him painfully, pushes him to commit suicide, saying telephone conversation the phrase: “Oh, if you only knew how tired I am of this whole story. Please stop it as soon as possible.” Nevertheless, in his farewell letter, the hero “from the depths of his soul” thanks Vera Nikolaevna for the fact that she was his “only joy in life, the only consolation.” He wishes her happiness and that “nothing temporary or worldly should disturb” her “beautiful soul.”

Zheltkov is the chosen one. His love is “selfless, selfless, not expecting reward...”. The one about which it is said “strong as death”... 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...”. In his own words, this love was sent to him by God. He loves, and his feeling “contains the whole meaning of life - the whole universe!” Every woman, in the depths of her heart, dreams of such love - “holy, pure, eternal... unearthly,” “united, all-forgiving, ready for anything.”

And Vera Nikolaevna is also the chosen one, because it was her life’s path that was “crossed” by real, “modest and selfless” true love. And if “almost every woman is capable of the most high heroism", then men in the modern world, unfortunately, have become impoverished in spirit and body; But Zheltkov is not like that. The date scene reveals many aspects of this man’s character. At first he is lost (“jumped up, ran to the window, fiddling with his hair”), admits that now “the most difficult moment has come” in his life, and his whole appearance testifies to indescribable mental anguish: with Shein and Tuganovsky he speaks “with just his jaws,” and his lips are “white ... like those of a dead man.” But composure quickly returns to him. , Zheltkov again regains the gift of speech and the ability to reason sensibly. As a sensitive person who knows how to understand people, he immediately rebuffed Nikolai Nikolaevich, stopped paying attention to his stupid threats, but in Vasily Lvovich he recognized a smart, understanding person who could listen to him. recognition During this meeting, when a difficult conversation took place with the husband and brother of his beloved and Zheltkov was returned his gift - a wonderful garnet bracelet, a family heirloom, which he calls a “modest loyal offering,” the hero demonstrated a strong will.

After calling Vera Nikolaevna, he decided that he had only one way out - to die, so as not to cause any more inconvenience to his beloved. This step was the only possible one, because his whole life was centered around his beloved, and now he is denied even the last little thing: to stay in the city, “so that he can see her at least occasionally, of course, without showing his face to her.” Zheltkov understands that life away from Vera Nikolaevna will not bring relief from “sweet delirium,” because wherever he is, his heart will remain at the feet of his beloved, “every moment of the day” will be filled with Her, the thought of Her, dreams of Her. Having made this difficult decision, Zheltkov finds the strength to explain himself. His excitement is revealed by his behavior (“he has ceased to act like a gentleman”) and his speech, which becomes businesslike, categorical and harsh. “That’s all,” said Zheltkov, smiling arrogantly. “You will never hear from me again and, of course, you will never see me again... It seems that I did everything I could?”

For the hero, farewell to Vera Nikolaevna is farewell to life. It is no coincidence that Princess Vera, bending over the deceased to place a rose, notices that “deep importance” is hidden in his closed eyes, and his lips smile “blissfully and serenely, as if he, before parting with life, had learned some deep and sweet secret that had resolved his entire human life." Last words Zheltkova - words of gratitude for the fact that the princess was his “only joy in life, the only consolation, the only thought”, wishes for the happiness of his beloved and the hope that she will fulfill his last request: to perform the Sonata in D major No. 2, op. 2.

All of the above convinces us that the image of Zheltkov, painted by Kuprin with such nobility and enlightened love, is not an image of a “small”, pitiful, defeated by love, a poor man in spirit. No, when he passes away, Zheltkov remains strong and selflessly loving. He reserves the right to choose and protects his human dignity. Even Vera Nikolaevna’s husband understood how deep this man’s feeling was and treated him with respect: “I will say that he loved you, and was not crazy at all,” Shein reports after meeting Zheltkov. “I didn’t take my eyes off him.” and saw every movement, every change of his face. And for him there was no life without you. It seemed to me that I was present at the enormous suffering from which people die."

Inconspicuous official, " little man" with funny last name Zheltkov performed a feat of self-sacrifice in the name of the happiness and peace of his beloved woman. Yes, he was obsessed, but obsessed with a high feeling. It was “not a disease, not a manic idea.” It was love - great and poetic, filling life with meaning and content, saving man and humanity itself from moral degeneration. Love that only a select few are capable of. Love, “which every woman dreams of... love that repeats itself only once in a thousand years”...

IN this work the author tells us about love that is pure, sincere, selfless, and at the same time tragic. We are faced with Zheltkov’s true love for Vera Sheina, who is married to Vasily Shein. The princess herself says that the former passionate love for her husband has long passed. Zheltkov wrote letters to her for many years, collected her forgotten things and secretly watched her. He is happy only because he loves, despite the fact that this love is not reciprocal.

Zheltkov simply loved, without demanding anything in return. It's the only meaning

his life, and as a sign of his boundless fiery love, he gave her the most precious thing - a garnet bracelet. Even Vasily Lvovich recognizes his feeling and understands his suffering. Zheltkov lived with unrequited love, but he is grateful to Vera for this wonderful feeling that elevated him. For him, Princess Vera is above everything and everyone, she is the most precious thing he has in his life. Even General Anosov says that there are very few people who are capable of truly loving, who are able to do anything for the sake of love, these are exceptional people. Zheltkov, without a doubt, was such a person. He commits suicide by sending Vera farewell letter, which talks about happiness

and true love given to him by God. Vera Nikolaevna passed by this sublime and pure love, which “happens once every thousand years.” She realized what kind of love she had lost, and, listening to a Beethoven sonata, she realized that Zheltkov was forgiving her. Love is great power. Having become mutual, it can rule the world, but if left unrequited, it can even destroy human life.

The theme of love in the story “Garnet Bracelet”

“Unrequited love does not humiliate a person, but elevates him.” Pushkin Alexander Sergeevich

According to many researchers, “everything in this story is masterfully written, starting with its title. The title itself is surprisingly poetic and sonorous. It sounds like a line of a poem written in iambic trimeter.”

The story is based on real case. In a letter to the editor of the magazine “God’s World” F.D. Batyushkov, Kuprin wrote in October 1910: “Do you remember this? - the sad story of a small telegraph official P.P. Zholtikov, who was hopelessly, touchingly and selflessly in love with Lyubimov’s wife (D.N. is now the governor in Vilna). So far I’ve just come up with an epigraph...” (L. van Beethoven. Son no. 2, op. 2. Largo Appassionato). Although the work is based on real events, the ending of the story - Zheltkov's suicide - is the writer's creative speculation. It was not by chance that Kuprin completed his story tragic ending, he needed such an ending in order to further highlight the power of Zheltkov’s love for a woman almost unknown to him - a love that happens “once in a thousand years.”

Working on the story greatly influenced Alexander Ivanovich’s state of mind. “I recently told one good actress,” he wrote in a letter to F.D. Batyushkov in December 1910, “about the plot of his work - I’m crying, I’ll say one thing, that I have never written anything more chaste.”

The main character of the story is Princess Vera Nikolaevna Sheina. The action of the story takes place at the Black Sea resort in the fall, namely on September 17 - Vera Nikolaevna’s name day.

The first chapter is an introduction, which has the task of preparing the reader for the necessary perception of subsequent events. Kuprin describes nature. In Kuprin's descriptions of nature there are many sounds, colors and, especially, smells. Landscape in highest degree emotional and unlike anyone else. Thanks to the description of the autumn landscape with its empty dachas and flower beds, you feel the inevitability of the withering of the surrounding nature, the withering of the world. Kuprin draws a parallel between the description of the autumn garden and the internal state of the main character: coldish autumn landscape fading nature is similar in essence to the mood of Vera Nikolaevna Sheina. From it we predict her calm, unapproachable character. Nothing attracts her in this life, perhaps that is why the brightness of her being is enslaved by everyday life and dullness.

The author describes main character like this: “...she took after her mother, a beautiful Englishwoman, with her tall flexible figure, gentle but cold and proud face, beautiful, although rather large hands, and that charming sloping shoulders that can be seen in ancient miniatures...”. Vera could not be imbued with a sense of beauty in the world around her. She was not a natural romantic. And, having seen something out of the ordinary, some feature, I tried (even if involuntarily) to ground it, to compare it with the world around me. Her life flowed slowly, measuredly, quietly, and, it would seem, satisfied life principles, without going beyond their scope.

Vera Nikolaevna's husband was Prince Vasily Lvovich Shein. He was the leader of the nobility. Vera Nikolaevna married the prince, an exemplary, quiet man like herself. Vera Nikolaevna's former passionate love for her husband turned into a feeling of lasting, faithful, true friendship. The spouses, despite their high position in society, barely making ends meet. Since she had to live above her means, Vera saved unnoticed by her husband, remaining worthy of her title.

On her name day, her closest friends come to visit Vera. According to Kuprin, “Vera Nikolaevna Sheina always expected something happy and wonderful from her name day.” Her younger sister, Anna Nikolaevna Friesse, arrived before everyone else. “She was half a head shorter, somewhat broad in the shoulders, lively and frivolous, a mocker. Her face was of a strongly Mongolian type with quite noticeable cheekbones, with narrow eyes... captivated by some elusive and incomprehensible charm...". She was the complete opposite of Vera Nikolaevna. The sisters loved each other very much. Anna was married to a very rich and very stupid man who did absolutely nothing, but was registered with some charitable institution. She could not stand her husband, Gustav Ivanovich, but gave birth to two children from him - a boy and a girl. Vera Nikolaevna really wanted to have children, but she didn’t have them. Anna constantly flirted in all the capitals and resorts of Europe, but she never cheated on her husband.

On her name day, her younger sister gave Vera a small notebook in an amazing binding as a gift. Vera Nikolaevna really liked the gift. As for Vera’s husband, he gave her earrings made of pear-shaped pearls. writer kuprin story love

The guests arrive in the evening. All the characters, with the exception of Zheltkov, the main character who is in love with Princess Sheina, are gathered by Kuprin at the dacha of the Shein family. The princess receives from the guests expensive gifts. The name day celebration was fun until Vera notices that there are thirteen guests. Since she was superstitious, this alarms her. But so far there are no signs of trouble.

Among the guests, Kuprin singles out the old General Anosov, a comrade in arms with the father of Vera and Anna. The author describes him as follows: “A corpulent, tall, silvery old man, he climbed heavily from the step... He had a large, rough, red face with a fleshy nose and with that good-natured, stately, slightly contemptuous expression in his narrowed eyes... which is characteristic of courageous and ordinary people..."

Also present at the name day was Vera’s brother, Nikolai Nikolaevich Mirza-Bulat-Tuganovsky. He always defended his opinion and was ready to stand up for his family.

According to tradition, the guests played poker. Vera did not join the game: she was called by the maid, who handed her a package. Having unwrapped the package, Vera discovered a case containing a gold bracelet with stones and a note. “...gold, low-grade, very thick... on the outside completely covered... with garnets” bracelet. It looks like a tacky trinket next to the expensive, elegant gifts that guests gave her. The note tells about the bracelet, that it is a family jewel, possessing magical power, and what is it expensive thing, which the donor has. At the end of the letter were the initials G.S.Zh., and Vera realized that this was the secret admirer who had been writing to her for seven years. This bracelet becomes a symbol of his hopeless, enthusiastic, selfless, reverent love. Thus, this person is at least somehow trying to connect himself with Vera Nikolaevna. It was enough for him just that her hands touched his gift.

Looking at the deep red garnets, Vera felt alarmed; she sensed the approach of something unpleasant and saw some kind of omen in this bracelet. It is no coincidence that she immediately compares these red stones with blood: “Exactly blood!” - she exclaims. Vera Nikolaevna's calm was disturbed. Vera considered Zheltkov “unfortunate”; she could not understand the tragedy of this love. The expression “happy unhappy person” turned out to be somewhat contradictory. After all, in his feeling for Vera, Zheltkov experienced happiness.

Before the guests leave, Vera decides not to talk about the gift to her husband. Meanwhile, her husband entertains the guests with stories in which there is very little truth. Among these stories is the story of an unhappy man in love with Vera Nikolaevna, who allegedly sent her passionate letters every day, and then became a monk; when he died, he bequeathed to Vera two buttons and a bottle of perfume with his tears.

And only now we learn about Zheltkov, despite the fact that he is the main character. None of the guests have ever seen him, do not know his name, it is only known (judging by the letters) that he serves as a minor official and some kind of mysteriously always knows where Vera Nikolaevna is and what she is doing. The story says practically nothing about Zheltkov himself. We learn about it thanks to small details. But even these minor details used by the author in his narrative indicate a lot. We understand that inner world This extraordinary man was very, very rich. This man was not like others, he was not mired in wretched and dull everyday life, his soul strived for the beautiful and sublime.

Evening is coming. Many guests leave, leaving General Anosov, who talks about his life. He tells his love story, which he remembers forever - short and simple, which in the retelling seems simple vulgar adventure army officer “I don’t see true love. I haven’t seen it in my time either!” - says the general and gives examples of ordinary, obscene unions of people concluded for one reason or another. “Where is the love? Is love unselfish, selfless, not waiting for reward? The one about which it is said “strong as death”?.. Love should be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world! No life conveniences, calculations or compromises should concern her.” It was Anosov who formulated the main idea of the story: “Love must be...” and to some extent expressed Kuprin’s opinion.

Anosov talks about tragic cases similar to such love. A conversation about love led Anosov to the story of a telegraph operator. At first he assumed that Zheltkov was a maniac, and only then decided that Zheltkov’s love was real: “...maybe your path in life, Verochka, was crossed by exactly the kind of love that women dream about and that men are no longer capable of.”

When only Vera’s husband and brother remained in the house, she told about Zheltkov’s gift. Vasily Lvovich and Nikolai Nikolaevich treated Zheltkov’s gift with extreme disdain, laughed at his letters, and mocked his feelings. The garnet bracelet causes violent indignation in Nikolai Nikolaevich; it is worth noting that he was extremely irritated by the act of the young official, and Vasily Lvovich, due to his character, took it more calmly.

Nikolai Nikolaevich is worried about Vera. He doesn't believe in pure platonic love Zheltkov, suspecting him of the most vulgar adultery. If she had accepted the gift, Zheltkov would have begun to brag to his friends, he could have hoped for something more, he would have given her expensive gifts: “... a ring with diamonds, a pearl necklace...”, wasting government money, and then it could all have ended court, where the Sheins would be called as witnesses. The Shein family would have found themselves in a ridiculous position, their name would have been disgraced.

Vera herself did not attach any importance to the letters special meaning, did not have feelings for her mysterious admirer. She was somewhat flattered by his attention. Vera thought that Zheltkov’s letters were just an innocent joke. She does not attach the same importance to them as her brother Nikolai Nikolaevich does.

Vera Nikolaevna's husband and brother decide to give the gift to the secret admirer and ask him to never write to Vera again, to forget about her forever. But how to do this if they did not know either the name, surname, or address of the admirer of the Faith? Nikolai Nikolaevich and Vasily Lvovich find a admirer by their initials in the lists of city employees. Now they become aware that the mysterious G.S.Zh. is a petty official Georgy Zheltkov. Vera's brother and husband go to his home for important conversation with Zheltkov, who subsequently decides Georgy’s entire future fate.

Zheltkov lived under the roof in one poor house: “the spit-stained staircase smelled of mice, cats, kerosene and laundry... The room was very low, but very wide and long, almost square in shape. Two round windows, quite similar to steamship portholes, barely illuminated her. And the whole place looked like the wardroom of a cargo ship. Along one wall there was a narrow bed, along the other a very large and wide sofa, covered with a frayed beautiful Tekin carpet, in the middle there was a table covered with a colored Little Russian tablecloth.” Kuprin notes such an accurate detailed description of the atmosphere in which Zheltkov lives for a reason; the author shows the inequality between Princess Vera and the petty official Zheltkov. Between them there are insurmountable social barriers and partitions of class inequality. Exactly different social status and Vera’s marriage make Zheltkov’s love unrequited.

Kuprin develops the traditional theme of the “little man” in Russian literature. An official with a funny surname Zheltkov, quiet and inconspicuous, not only grows into tragic hero, he, by the power of his love, rises above the petty vanity, life’s conveniences, and decency. He turns out to be a man in no way inferior in nobility to aristocrats. Love elevated him. Love gives Zheltkov “tremendous happiness.” Love has become suffering, the only meaning of life. Zheltkov did not demand anything for his love; his letters to the princess were just a desire to speak out, to convey his feelings to his beloved being.

Finding themselves in Zheltkov’s room, Nikolai Nikolaevich and Vasily Lvovich finally see Vera’s admirer. The author describes him as follows: “...he was tall, thin, with long fluffy, soft hair... very pale, with a gentle girlish face, blue eyes and a stubborn childish chin with a dimple in the middle; He must have been about thirty, thirty-five years old...” Zheltkov, as soon as Nikolai Nikolaevich and Vasily Lvovich introduced themselves, became very nervous and scared, but after a while he calmed down. The men return his bracelet to Zheltkov with a request not to repeat such things again. Zheltkov himself understands and admits that he committed a stupidity by sending Vera a garnet bracelet.

Zheltkov admits to Vasily Lvovich that he has loved his wife for seven years. By some whim of fate, Vera Nikolaevna once seemed to Zheltkov to be an amazing, completely unearthly creature. And a strong, bright feeling flared up in his heart. He was always at some distance from his beloved, and, obviously, this distance contributed to the strength of his passion. He could not forget the beautiful image of the princess, and he was not stopped at all by the indifference on the part of his beloved.

Nikolai Nikolaevich gives Zheltkov two options for further actions: either he forgets Vera forever and never writes to her again, or, if he does not give up the persecution, measures will be taken against him. Zheltkov asks to call Vera to say goodbye to her. Although Nikolai Nikolaevich was against the call, Prince Shein allowed it to be done. But the conversation failed: Vera Nikolaevna did not want to talk to Zheltkov. Returning to the room, Zheltkov looked upset, his eyes were filled with tears. He asked permission to write a farewell letter to Vera, after which he would disappear from their lives forever, and again Prince Shein allows this to be done.

Those close to Princess Vera recognized Zheltkov as a noble man: brother Nikolai Nikolaevich: “I immediately recognized a noble man in you”; husband Prince Vasily Lvovich: “this man is incapable of deceiving and knowingly lying.”

Returning home, Vasily Lvovich tells Vera in detail about his meeting with Zheltkov. She was alarmed and uttered the following phrase: “I know that this man will kill himself.” Vera already foresaw the tragic outcome of this situation.

The next morning, Vera Nikolaevna reads in the newspaper that Zheltkov committed suicide. The newspaper wrote that the death occurred due to embezzlement of government money. This is what the suicide wrote in his posthumous letter.

Throughout the entire story, Kuprin tries to instill in readers “the concept of love on the brink of life,” and he does this through Zheltkov, for him love is life, therefore, no love, no life. And when Vera’s husband persistently asks to stop loving, his life ends. Is love worthy of the loss of life, the loss of everything that can be in the world? Everyone must answer this question for themselves - does he want this, what is more valuable to him - life or love? Zheltkov answered: love. Well, what about the price of life, because life is the most precious thing we have, it is what we are so afraid of losing, and on the other hand, love is the meaning of our life, without which it will not be life, but will be an empty phrase. One involuntarily recalls the words of I. S. Turgenev: “Love... is stronger than death and the fear of death.”

Zheltkov fulfilled Vera’s request to “stop this whole story” in the only way possible for him. That same evening, Vera receives a letter from Zheltkov.

This is what the letter said: “... It so happened that I am not interested in anything in life: neither politics, nor science, nor philosophy, nor concern for the future happiness of people - for me, my whole life lies only in you... My love is not an illness, not a manic idea, it is a reward from God... If you ever think of me, then play the sonata by L. van Beethoven. Son No. 2, op. 2. Largo Appassionato...” Zheltkov also deified his beloved in the letter; his prayer was addressed to her: “Hallowed be Thy name.” However, with all this, Princess Vera was an ordinary earthly woman. So her deification is a figment of poor Zheltkov’s imagination.

It’s a pity that nothing in life interested him except her. I think you can’t live like this, you can’t just suffer and dream about your beloved, but unattainable. Life is a game, and each of us must play our role, manage to do it in such a short period of time, manage to become positive or negative hero, but under no circumstances remain indifferent to everything except her, the only one, the beautiful one.

Zheltkov thinks that this is his destiny - to love madly, but unrequitedly, that it is impossible to escape from fate. If it weren’t for this last thing, he would undoubtedly have tried to do something, to escape from the feeling doomed to death.

Yes, I think I should have run. Run without looking back. Set a long-term goal and plunge headlong into work. I had to force myself to forget my crazy love. It was necessary to at least try to avoid its tragic outcome.

With all his desire, he could not have power over his soul, in which there was too much great place occupied the image of a princess. Zheltkov idealized his beloved, he knew nothing about her, so he painted a completely unearthly image in his imagination. And this also reveals the originality of his nature. His love could not be discredited, tarnished precisely because it was too far from real life. Zheltkov never met his beloved, his feelings remained a mirage, they were not connected with reality. And in this regard, the lover Zheltkov appears before the reader as a dreamer, romantic and idealist, divorced from life.

He endowed the best qualities of a woman about whom he knew absolutely nothing. Perhaps if fate had given Zheltkov at least one meeting with the princess, he would have changed his opinion about her. At the very least, she would not seem to him an ideal creature, absolutely devoid of flaws. But, alas, the meeting turned out to be impossible.

Anosov said: “Love must be a tragedy...”, if you approach love with exactly this yardstick, then it becomes clear that Zheltkov’s love is exactly like that. He easily puts his feelings for the beautiful princess above everything else in the world. In essence, life itself does not have much value for Zheltkov. And, probably, the reason for this is the lack of demand for his love, because Mr. Zheltkov’s life is not decorated with anything except feelings for the princess. At the same time, the princess herself lives a completely different life, in which there is no place for the lover Zheltkov. And she doesn't want the flow of these letters to continue. The princess is not interested in her unknown admirer; she is happy without him. All the more surprising and even strange is Zheltkov, who consciously cultivates his passion for Vera Nikolaevna.

Can Zheltkov be called a sufferer who lived his life uselessly, giving himself up as a sacrifice to some amazing soulless love? On the one hand, he appears exactly like that. He was ready to give the life of his beloved, but no one needed such a sacrifice. The garnet bracelet itself is a detail that even more clearly emphasizes the whole tragedy of this man. He's ready to part with family heirloom, an adornment passed down by inheritance from the women of his family. Zheltkov is ready to give his only jewel to a completely stranger, and she did not need this gift at all.

Can Zheltkov’s feeling for Vera Nikolaevna be called madness? Prince Shein answers this question in the book: “... I feel that I am present at some enormous tragedy of the soul, and I cannot clown around here... I will say that he loved you, and was not crazy at all...”. And I agree with his opinion.

The psychological climax of the story is Vera’s farewell to the deceased Zheltkov, their only “date” is a turning point in her internal state. On the face of the deceased she read “deep importance, ... as if, before parting with life, he had learned some deep and sweet secret that resolved his entire human life,” a “blessed and serene” smile, “peace.” “At that second she realized that the love that every woman dreams of had passed her by.”

You can immediately ask the question: did Vera love anyone at all? Or the word love in its interpretation is nothing more than the concept of marital duty, marital fidelity, and not feelings for another person. Vera probably loved only one person: her sister, who was everything to her. She did not love her husband, not to mention Zheltkov, whom she had never seen alive.

Was there a need for Vera to go and look at the dead Zheltkov? Perhaps it was an attempt to somehow assert herself, not to torment herself for the rest of her life with remorse, to look at the one she abandoned. Understand that there will be nothing like this in her life. What we started from is what we came to - before he was looking for meetings with her, and now she came to him. And who is to blame for what happened - himself or his love.

Love dried him up, took away all the best that was in his nature. But she gave nothing in return. Therefore, the unhappy person has nothing else left. Obviously, by the death of the hero, Kuprin wanted to express his attitude towards his love. Zheltkov is, of course, a unique, very special person. Therefore it is very difficult for him to live among ordinary people. It turns out that there is no place for him on this earth. And this is his tragedy, and not his fault at all.

Of course, his love can be called a unique, wonderful, amazingly beautiful phenomenon. Yes, such a selfless and amazing pure love is very rare. But it’s still good that it happens this way. After all, such love goes hand in hand with tragedy, it ruins a person’s life. And the beauty of the soul remains unclaimed, no one knows about it or notices it.

When Princess Sheina came home, she fulfilled Zheltkov’s last wish. She asks her pianist friend Jenny Reiter to play something for her. Vera has no doubt that the pianist will perform exactly the place in the sonata that Zheltkov asked for. Her thoughts and music merged together, and she heard as if the verses ended with the words: “Hallowed be Thy name.”

“Hallowed be Thy name” sounds like a refrain in the last part of “Garnet Bracelet”. A person has passed away, but love has not left. It seemed to dissipate in the surrounding world and merged with Beethoven’s Sonata No. 2 Largo Appassionato. Under the passionate sounds of music, the heroine feels painful and wonderful birth in her soul of the new world, she feels a feeling of deep gratitude to the person who put love for her above everything in his life, even above life itself. She understands that he has forgiven her. The story ends on this tragic note.

However, despite the sad ending, Kuprin’s hero is happy. He believes that the love that illuminated his life is a truly wonderful feeling. And I no longer know whether this love is so naive and reckless. And maybe she really is worth giving up your life and desire for life for her. After all, she is beautiful like the moon, clear like the sky, bright like the sun, constant like nature. Such is Zheltkov’s chivalrous, romantic love for Princess Vera Nikolaevna, which consumed his entire being. Zheltkov departs this life without complaints, without reproaches, saying like a prayer: “Hallowed be Thy name.” It is impossible to read these lines without tears. And it’s unclear why tears are rolling from my eyes. Either it’s just pity for the unfortunate Zheltkov (after all, life could have been wonderful for him too), or admiration for the splendor of the little man’s enormous feelings.

I would so much like this fairy tale about the all-forgiving and strong love, created by I. A. Kuprin. I would like so much that cruel reality could never defeat our sincere feelings, our love. We must multiply it, be proud of it. Love, true love, you need to study diligently, like the most painstaking science. However, love does not come if you wait for its appearance every minute, and at the same time, it does not flare up out of nothing.

The theme of love has been one of the most important in world and Russian literature since its inception. This feeling has a variety of definitions, but perhaps the most comprehensive is the definition from the Gospel: “This mystery is great.” Kuprin leads the reader to an understanding of the great secret with the entire system of images of the short story “Garnet Bracelet”.

The author embodied the mystery of God's gift of love, pure and unique, high to the point of self-sacrifice, creating a high atmosphere of morality, in the image of the “little man” Zheltkov.

The novella opens with a description of the coming autumn based on the principle of contrast. In the middle of August the weather is “disgusting”. She is accompanied by “ thick fog, a fine rain, like water dust, turning clay roads and paths into solid thick mud”, a ferocious hurricane, “the siren at the lighthouse roared like a mad bull”... The trees swayed..., “like waves in a storm.”

By the beginning of September the weather changes dramatically. “Quiet cloudless days, so clear, sunny and warm, which were not even in July. On the dry, compressed fields, on the prickly yellow stubble, an autumn cobweb glistened with a mica sheen. The calmed trees silently and obediently dropped their yellow leaves.”

This contrasting landscape, depressing and joyful, seems to precede a natural change in the life of Princess Vera Nikolaevna Sheina and the official of the control chamber Zheltkov, where Divine purity and tragedy, insight and faith in eternal, unearthly love will harmoniously merge together. State of mind The author presents Vera Nikolaevna through the prism of her attitude to natural beauty, dissolved in the vast world of existence.

“She was very happy about the wonderful days that had come, the silence, solitude, clean air, the chirping of swallows on the telegraph wires...”

Naturally sensitive, she “long ago” lost the feeling of love for her husband. They were friends and cared about each other.

Faith intuitively seeks the answer to the question of whether love exists and how it manifests itself.

The author explains the thirst for love and naivety of married sisters by the established stereotype in many generations, where love is replaced by habit and convenience. The author will lead his heroine, together with the reader, to true love, to the throne, on the altar of which life is laid.

Throughout the entire narrative, Zheltkov is Vera Nikolaevna’s secret lover.

Sheina, who rarely reminds of himself by letters. For Vera's relatives, he seems funny and insignificant. Vasily Lvovich, Vera’s husband, is intelligent, merciful, devotes a lot of space to Zheltkov in the home humor magazine, depicts a caricatured imaginary portrait of him. Either Zheltkov is a chimney sweep, or a monk, or a village woman, or he sends Vera a perfume bottle filled with tears. In such a reduced manner, Shein portrayed the inferiority of the “little man” who dared to fall in love with a woman not of his circle.

Probably, Prince Shein, at the moment of his meeting with Zheltkov, realized his clowning, since even Nikolai Nikolaevich Tuganovsky instantly saw Zheltkov’s nobility. He peers into the unusual appearance of a man, sees in him the inner workings of the soul: “thin, nervous fingers, a pale, gentle face, a childish chin.”

These external features of a person who subtly perceives the world are complemented by the touches of his psychological experiences in front of Vasily Lvovich and Nikolai Nikolaevich. Zheltkov was confused, his lips became dead, he jumped up, his trembling hands ran around, etc.

All this characterizes a lonely person who is not accustomed to such communication.

In the novella, the word “cliff” has a direct meaning and takes on the meaning of an image - a symbol. Vera lives on a cliff, in front of which the sea rages. She is afraid to look from the cliff. Zheltkov is constantly mentally there, on the cliff.

His speech to the guests who came to deprive him of what he lives on was a leap into the abyss from a cliff. With childish frankness, he will say what his soul is filled with: “Sending the bracelet was even more stupid. But...I can never stop loving her...Should I be imprisoned? But even there I will find a way to let her know about my existence. There is only one thing left - death..."

Zheltkov rushes off the “cliff” into oblivion when he hears Vera on the phone: “Oh, if you only knew how tired I am of this story.”

Zheltkov’s appearance, speech, and behavior stirred up Shein. He suddenly saw in front of him a living person “with unshed tears”, with “an enormous tragedy of the soul.” Shein realized that he was not crazy, but loving person, for whom life did not exist without Faith.

Vera hears from the landlady words full of maternal love and sorrow: “If only you knew, lady, what a wonderful man he was.” From her Vera learns that he asked to hang the garnet bracelet on the icon Mother of God. And cold Vera takes Zheltkov’s last letter written for her from the hands of the landlady with tenderness, reads the lines addressed to her, the only one: “It’s not my fault, Vera Nikolaevna, that God was pleased to send me, as great happiness, love for you. If you remember me, then play or ask me to play the Sonata in D major No. 2. op.2.”

So, Zheltkov’s love, eternal and unique, selfless and selfless, a gift from the Creator, for which he joyfully goes to death. Zheltkov’s love heals Vera and two men from pride, spiritual dryness, and gives birth to mercy in the souls of these people.

In Vera’s family there was no love between the spouses, although they felt comfortable and confident. There was no demand for love, as evidenced by Vera’s conversation with Yakov Mikhailovich Anosov.

- People nowadays have forgotten how to love. I don't see true love. And in my time I didn’t see it.

- Well, how can it be, grandfather? Why slander? You yourself were married. So they still loved you?

“It means absolutely nothing, dear Verochka.”

- Take Vasya and me for example. Can we call our marriage unhappy? Anosov was silent for a long time. Then he said reluctantly:

- Well, okay... let's say - an exception...

Smart Anosov, who loves both Vera and Anna, very doubtfully agrees with Verochkin’s concept of happiness. Sister Anna couldn’t stand her husband at all, although she gave birth to two children.

He alone among the heroes of the story smells roses on this autumn evening: “How roses smell... I hear it from here.” Vera put two roses in the buttonhole of the general’s coat. General Anosov's first love is connected with a girl who was sorting dry rose petals.

The subtle smell of roses reminded him of an incident from his life - funny and sad. This is an insert story in the short story “Garnet Bracelet”, with a beginning and an end.

“I’m walking down the street in Bucharest. Suddenly a strong pink smell wafted over me... Between two soldiers there is a beautiful crystal bottle with rose oil. They lubricated their boots and also their weapon locks.

-What do you have?

“They put some kind of oil in the porridge, Your Honor, but it’s not good, it hurts your mouth, but it smells good.”

Hence, delicate aroma soldiers don’t need it, their horizons are not the same, there is no need for beauty. The path to the pinnacle of spirit, beauty, the pinnacle of nobility is difficult and long.

The image of a rose, a symbol of love and tragedy, permeates the fabric of the story from beginning to end. They, both in the form of dry petals and in the form of already prepared oil, are undoubtedly a parallel to all those love stories that the grandfather tells, those that the reader himself observes among the acting characters.

The image of a living rose, red as blood, appears as an impossible phenomenon in the fall in the hands of Vera Nikolaevna. She placed it at the head of the deceased in recognition of his unearthly love. The same color is in the garnet bracelet, only it is a different symbol, a symbol of tragedy, “like blood.”

Having understood the power of Zheltkov’s love, Vera is chained to Beethoven’s music. And the magical sounds of the words of enthusiastic love whispered to her: “Let your name shine.” The conscious guilt dissolves in her copious tears. The soul is filled with sounds equivalent to words:

“Calm down, darling, calm down. Do you remember about me? You're my only one and last love. Calm down, I’m with you.”

And she felt his forgiveness. It was music that united them on this mournful day of their first meeting and farewell, just as it united Vera and Zheltkov for all eight years when he first saw her at a concert where Beethoven’s music was played. Beethoven's music and Zheltkov's love is an artistic parallel to the short story, which is prefaced by the epigraph to the short story.

L. Von Bethoven. 2 Son. (op.2, no. 2)
Largo Appassionato

So everything artistic media: live speech, inserted narratives, psychological portraits, sounds and smells, details, symbols - make the author's narration a vivid picture where love is the main motive.

Kuprin convinces that everyone has their own love. Now it is like autumn roses, now it is like dry petals, now love has taken on vulgar forms and has descended to everyday convenience and little entertainment. Kuprin focused the love that women dream about on the image of Zheltkov. His love is God's gift. His love transforms the world. Kuprin convinces the reader that a “little man” can have a very rich soul, capable of making a beneficial contribution to the improvement of human morality. How important it is to understand this before the tragedy occurs.

0 / 5. 0

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 didn't have any goals in life, he wasn't interested in anything anymore.

As a result, he decides to commit suicide and fulfills Vera’s will, 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 only 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. “Garnet Bracelet” is very interesting and at the same time sad piece, 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 good people. 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. Main character- 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 life path. At first Vera did not know how to react, because she received letters with declarations of love, and her family laughed and mocked it. 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 remained 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 talks about iron strength the will of a person, but also about 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's why the most the best way out it becomes suicide for him. Before this act, he assures everyone in a letter that he has lived a happy life.

Zheltkov’s love for Vera Sheina based on the story The Garnet Bracelet (Kuprin A.I.). Essay “Garnet bracelet: the theme of love Did the yolks truly love faith?”

Other works on this topic:

The theme of love in the story “Garnet Bracelet”

Option 2

Essay Love in the work of Kuprin Garnet bracelet