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 is masterfully written in this story, 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 a real case. In a letter to the editor of the journal “The World of God” F. D. Batyushkov, Kuprin wrote in October 1910: “Do you remember this? - sad story the little 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). While only came 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 conjecture. Kuprin did not accidentally complete his story tragic ending, he needed such an ending to more strongly shade the power of Zheltkov's love for a woman almost unfamiliar to him - a love that happens "once in a thousand years."

The work on the story had a strong influence on state of mind Alexander Ivanovich. “Recently I told a good actress,” he wrote in a letter to F. D. Batyushkov in December 1910, “I’m crying about the plot of my work, I’ll say one thing that I haven’t written anything more chaste yet.”

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

The first chapter is an introduction, whose task was to prepare the reader for the desired perception of subsequent events. Kuprin describes nature. In describing nature, Kuprin has many sounds, colors, and especially smells. landscape in the highest degree emotional and unlike anyone else. Thanks to the description of the autumn landscape with its deserted 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 autumn garden and the inner state of the main character: the chilly autumn landscape of fading nature is similar in essence to the mood of Vera Nikolaevna Sheina. According to him, we predict her calm, impregnable character. Nothing attracts her in this life, perhaps that is why the brightness of her being is enslaved by routine and dullness.

The author describes the main character as follows: “... she went to her mother, a beautiful Englishwoman, with her tall flexible figure, gentle, but cold and proud face, beautiful, although rather big hands, and that charming sloping of the shoulders, which can be seen in old miniatures ... ". Vera could not be imbued with a sense of beauty to the world around her. She was not a natural romantic. And, seeing something out of the ordinary, some peculiarity, I tried (albeit involuntarily) to ground it, to compare it with the outside world. Her life flowed slowly, measuredly, quietly, and, it would seem, satisfied life principles without going beyond them.

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

On the day of the name day, Vera's closest friends come to visit. According to Kuprin, "Vera Nikolaevna Sheina always expected something happy, wonderful from the name day." She arrived first younger sister- Anna Nikolaevna Friesse. “She was half a head shorter, somewhat broad in the shoulders, lively and frivolous, a mocker. Her face is of a strongly Mongolian type with rather 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 person, who did absolutely nothing, but was listed at some charitable institution. She could not stand her husband, Gustav Ivanovich, but she gave birth to two children from him - a boy and a girl. Vera Nikolaevna really wanted to have children, but she did not have them. Anna constantly flirted in all the capitals and resorts of Europe, but she never cheated on her husband.

On the name day, the younger sister presented Vera with a little notebook in amazing binding. Vera Nikolaevna liked the gift very much. 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 actors, with the exception of Zheltkov, the main character in love with Princess Sheina, Kuprin gathers the Shein family at the dacha. The princess receives expensive gifts from the guests. 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 of the father of Vera and Anna. The author describes him like this: “A fat, tall, silver old man, he was heavily climbing off the footboard ... He had a large, rough, red face with a fleshy nose and with that good-naturedly majestic, 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.

Traditionally, the guests played poker. Vera did not join the game: she was called by the maid, who handed her a package.. Unfolding the package, Vera discovers a case containing a gold bracelet with stones and a note. “... a gold, low-grade, very thick ... on the outside, all completely covered ... with garnets” bracelet. He looks like a tasteless trinket next to the expensive elegant gifts that guests gave her. The note tells about the bracelet, that it is a family jewel that has magic power and what is the most expensive thing that 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 somehow trying to connect himself with Vera Nikolaevna. It was enough for him only that her hands touched his gift.

Looking at the thick red grenades, Vera felt alarmed, she felt something unpleasant approaching, she saw some kind of omen in this bracelet. It is no coincidence that she immediately compares these red stones with blood: “Just like blood!” she exclaims. The tranquility of Vera Nikolaevna 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. Indeed, in his feeling for Vera, Zheltkov experienced happiness.

Until the guests leave, Vera decides not to talk about the gift to her husband. Meanwhile, her husband entertains guests with stories in which there is very little truth. Among these stories is the story of an unfortunate lover in Vera Nikolaevna, who allegedly sent passionate letters to her every day, and then became a monk, after dying, 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 has ever seen him, does not know his name, only it is known (judging by the letters) that he serves as a petty official and some kind of mysteriously always knows where he is and what Vera Nikolaevna is doing. Almost nothing is said about Zheltkov himself in the story. We learn about it thanks to small details. But even these minor details used by the author in his narrative testify to a lot. We understand that inner world this extraordinary person was very, very rich. This man was not like the others, he was not mired in a miserable and dull everyday life, his soul aspired to the beautiful and sublime.

Evening comes. Many guests are leaving, leaving General Anosov, who talks about his life. He tells his love story, which he will remember forever - short and simple, which, in retelling, seems like just a vulgar adventure of an army officer. “I don’t see true love. And I didn’t see it in my time!” - says the general and gives examples of ordinary, obscene unions of people concluded for one reason or another. “Where is the love? Love disinterested, selfless, not waiting for a reward? The one about which it is said - "strong as death"? .. Love must be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world! No comforts of life, calculations and 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 similar to such love tragic cases. The conversation about love led Anosov to the story of a telegraph operator. At first he suggested that Zheltkov was a maniac, and only then he decided that Zheltkov’s love was real: “... maybe your life path, Vera, crossed exactly the kind of love that women dream of and that men are no longer capable of.

When only Vera's husband and brother remained in the house, she spoke about Zheltkov's gift. Vasily Lvovich and Nikolai Nikolaevich treated Zheltkov's gift extremely dismissively, laughed at his letters, mocked his feelings. The garnet bracelet causes stormy indignation in Nikolai Nikolayevich, it is worth noting that he was extremely annoyed by the act of the young official, and Vasily Lvovich, by virtue of his character, took it more calmly.

Nikolai Nikolaevich is worried about Vera. He does not believe in pure platonic love Zheltkov, suspecting him of the most vulgar adultery. If she accepted the gift, Zheltkov would brag to his friends, he could hope for something more, he would give her expensive gifts: "... a diamond ring, a pearl necklace ...", wasting government money, and subsequently everything could have ended court, where the Sheins would be called as witnesses. The Shein family would have fallen into a ridiculous position, their name would have been disgraced.

Vera herself did not give 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 that her brother Nikolai Nikolayevich does.

Husband and brother of Vera Nikolaevna decide to give a gift secret admirer and ask him never to write to Vera again, to forget about her forever. But how to do this if they did not know either the name, or the surname, or the address of the admirer of the Faith? Nikolai Nikolaevich and Vasily Lvovich find a fan 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 house for an important conversation with Zheltkov, who subsequently decides everything. further fate George.

Zheltkov lived under a roof in one poor house: “The spit-stained staircase smelled of mice, cats, kerosene and washing ... The room was very low, but very wide and long, almost square in shape. Two round windows, quite similar to ship portholes, barely illuminated her. Yes, and all of it was similar to the wardroom of a cargo steamer. Along one wall stood a narrow bed, along the other a very large and wide sofa, covered with a beautiful tattered Teke carpet, in the middle - a table covered with a colored Little Russian tablecloth. Such an accurate detailed description of the atmosphere in which Zheltkov lives, Kuprin notes for a reason, the author shows the inequality between Princess Vera and the petty official Zheltkov. Between them there are insurmountable social barriers and barriers of class inequality. It is the different social status and Vera's marriage that make Zheltkov's love unrequited.

Kuprin develops the theme of the “little man”, traditional for Russian literature. Official with funny last name Yolks, quiet and inconspicuous, not only grows into tragic hero, he, by the power of his love, rises above petty fuss, life's conveniences, decency. He turns out to be a man in no way inferior in nobility to aristocrats. Love lifted him up. 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.

Once in Zheltkov's room, finally, Nikolai Nikolaevich and Vasily Lvovich 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, with blue eyes and a stubborn childish chin with a dimple in the middle; he must have been about thirty, thirty-five…” Zheltkov, as soon as Nikolai Nikolaevich and Vasily Lvovich introduced themselves, became very nervous and frightened, but after a while he calmed down. The men return Zheltkov his bracelet with a request not to repeat such things again. Zheltkov himself understands and admits that he did something stupid by sending Vera Garnet bracelet.

Zheltkov confesses to Vasily Lvovich that he has been in love with his wife for seven years. Vera Nikolaevna, by some whim of fate, once seemed to Zheltkov an amazing, completely unearthly creature. And a strong, vivid 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 couldn't forget beautiful image princess, and he was not at all stopped by the indifference on the part of his beloved.

Nikolai Nikolayevich gives Zheltkov two options further action: either he forever forgets Vera 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 did not go well: 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 to Vera Farewell letter, after which he will disappear from their lives forever, and again Prince Shein allows this to be done.

The close princesses of Vera recognized Zheltkovo as a noble person: brother Nikolai Nikolayevich: “I immediately guessed a noble person in you”; husband Prince Vasily Lvovich: "this man is incapable of deceiving and lying knowingly."

Returning home, Vasily Lvovich tells Vera in detail about the meeting with Zheltkov. She was alarmed and uttered the following phrase: "I know that this man will kill himself." Vera already had a premonition of 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 the waste of public money. So the suicide wrote in a posthumous letter.

Throughout the story, Kuprin is trying to inspire readers with “the concept of love on the verge of life”, and he does this through Zheltkov, for him love is life, therefore, there is no love - there is no life. And when Vera's husband persistently asks to stop love, his life also stops. But is love worthy of losing life, losing everything that can be in the world? Everyone must answer this question for himself - does he want this, what is more precious 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 we who are so afraid of losing it, and on the other hand, love is the meaning of our life, without which it will not be life, but will be an empty sound. I involuntarily recall the words of I. S. Turgenev: “Love ... is stronger than death and the fear of death.”

Zheltkov complied with Vera's request to "stop this whole story" in the only way possible for him. That same evening, Vera receives a letter from Zheltkov.

Here is what the letter said: “... It so happened that nothing interests me in life: neither politics, nor science, nor philosophy, nor concern for the future happiness of people - for me, all life lies only in you ... My love is not illness, not a manic idea, it is a reward from God... If you ever think of me, then play the L. van Beethoven sonata. Son No. 2, op. 2. Largo Appassionato ... "Zheltkov also deified his beloved in a letter, his prayer was addressed to her:" May your name". However, with all this, Princess Vera was an ordinary earthly woman. So her deification is a figment of the imagination of poor Zheltkov.

It is a pity that in life he was not interested in anything but her. I think you can't live like this, you can't just suffer and dream about your beloved, but inaccessible. Life is a game, and each of us is obliged to play our role, to have time to do it in such a short period of time, to have time to become positive or villain, but in no case remain indifferent to everything except her, the only, beautiful one.

Zheltkov thinks that this is his destiny - to love madly, but unrequitedly, that it is impossible to escape from fate. If not for this latter, then he would undoubtedly have tried to do something, to escape from a feeling doomed to death.

Yes, I think I should have run. Run without looking back. Set yourself 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 be in control of his soul, in which too great place took the form of a princess. Zheltkov idealized his beloved, he did not know anything about her, therefore he painted in his imagination a completely unearthly image. And this also shows the eccentricity of his nature. His love could not be tarnished, stained 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 enamored Zheltkov appears before the reader as a dreamer, romantic and idealist out of touch with life.

He endowed best qualities 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 mind about her. At the very least, she would not seem to him an ideal being, absolutely devoid of flaws. But, alas, the meeting was impossible.

Anosov said: "Love must be a tragedy ...", if you approach love with just such a yardstick, then it becomes clear - Zheltkov's love is just that. He easily puts his feelings for the beautiful princess above all else. In essence, life itself has no special value for Zheltkov. And, probably, the reason for this is the lack of demand for his love, because the life of Mr. Zheltkov is not decorated with anything other than feelings for the princess. At the same time, the princess herself lives a completely different life, in which there is no place for the enamored Zheltkov. And she does not want the flow of these letters to continue. The princess is not interested in her unknown admirer, she is fine 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 victim of some amazing soulless love? On the one hand, he appears to be just that. He was ready to give his life to his beloved, but no one needed such a sacrifice. The garnet bracelet itself is a detail that even more clearly emphasizes the entire tragedy of this man. He is ready to part with family heirloom, an ornament passed down by women of his family. Zheltkov is ready to give the only jewel to a completely stranger woman, and she did not need this gift at all.

Can Zheltkov's feelings 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 play around here ... I will say that he loved you, but was not at all crazy ... ". And I agree with his opinion.

The psychological culmination of the story is Vera's farewell to the deceased Zheltkov, their only "date" - 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 whole human life”, “blissful and serene” smile, “peace”. “At that moment, she realized that the love that every woman dreams of has passed her by.”

You can immediately ask the question: - did Vera love anyone at all. Or the word love in its understanding is nothing but 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.

But was it necessary for Vera to go 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 refused. To understand that in her life there will be nothing like this. From what we pushed off, we came to that - before he was looking for meetings with her, and now she came to him. And who is to blame for what happened - he 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 unfortunate person has nothing else to do. Obviously, by the death of the hero, Kuprin wanted to express his attitude towards his love. Zheltkov, of course, is a unique person, very special. 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 disinterested and amazing pure love is very rare. But still, it's good that it happens this way. After all, such love is coming hand in hand with tragedy, it breaks a person's life. And the beauty of the soul remains unclaimed, no one knows about it and does not notice it.

When Princess Sheina came home, she fulfills 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 into one, 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 the "Garnet Bracelet". A man has passed away, but love has not gone away. It seemed to dissipate in the surrounding world, merging with Beethoven's sonata No. 2 Largo Appassionato. Under passionate sounds music, the heroine feels the painful and beautiful birth of a new world in her soul, feels a sense of deep gratitude to the person who has placed 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 denouement, Kuprin's hero is happy. He believes that the love that illuminated his life is a truly wonderful feeling. And I no longer know if this love is so naive and reckless. And maybe she really is worth it to give her life and desire for life for her. After all, she is beautiful like the moon, pure like the sky, bright like the sun, constant like nature. Such is the knightly romantic love Zheltkov to Princess Vera Nikolaevna, who swallowed up his whole being. Zheltkov passes away without complaints, without reproaches, saying, as a prayer: "Hallowed be thy name." It is impossible to read these lines without tears. And it is not clear why tears roll from the eyes. Either this is just pity for the unfortunate Zheltkov (after all, life could be beautiful for him too), or admiration for the magnificence of the great feeling of a small person.

I so wish that this tale of all-forgiving and strong love, created by I. A. Kuprin, penetrated into our monotonous life. I wish that I never harsh reality could not overcome our sincere feelings, our love. We must multiply it, be proud of it. Love, true love, must be studied diligently, as 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 from nothing.

K. Paustovsky called this story a “fragrant” work about love, and researchers compared it with a Beethoven sonata. It's about about the "Garnet Bracelet" by A. Kuprin. Pupils get acquainted with him in the 11th grade. The story captivates the reader with an exciting plot, deep images and original interpretation. eternal theme love. We offer an analysis of the work, which will be a good assistant in preparing for the lesson and the exam. For convenience, the article contains a brief and full parsing according to plan.

Brief analysis

Year of writing - 1910

History of creation- A. I. Kuprin was inspired to write a work by a story heard in a family of acquaintances.

Subject- The story reveals traditional themes unrequited love, sincere feeling that all women dream of.

Composition- The semantic and formal organization of the story has its own peculiarities. The work begins with an epigraph addressed to Beethoven's Sonata No. 2. The same musical masterpiece acts as a character in the final part. The author wove small love stories told by Vasily Lvovich into the outline of the main plot. The story consists of 13 parts.

Genre- The story. The writer himself considered his work a story.

Direction- Realism.

History of creation

The history of the creation of the story is connected with real events. A. Kuprin was a friend of the family of Governor Lyubimov. While browsing family album The Lyubimovs told Alexander Ivanovich an interesting love story. A telegraph official was in love with the governor's wife. The woman collected his letters and made sketches for them. Once she received a gift from her admirer: a gold-plated chain and a pendant in the shape of an Easter egg.

Work on the work began in September 1910, as evidenced by the author's letters addressed to colleagues in the pen. At first, Alexander Ivanovich was going to write a story. But he was so inspired by the artistic transformation of the story he heard that the work turned out to be much larger than it was intended. Created Kuprin "Garnet Bracelet" for about 3 months. He wrote to Batyushkov about the progress of the work. In one of the letters, the writer admitted that he had difficulties associated with his "ignorance in music." Nevertheless, Alexander Ivanovich valued the "Garnet Bracelet" very much, so he did not want to "crumple" it.

For the first time the work saw the world on the pages of the magazine "Earth" in 1911. In the criticism of the work, emphasis was placed on his ideas and expressive "psychological situations".

Subject

In order to catch the ideological sound of the story "The Garnet Bracelet", its analysis should begin with a description of the main problem.

Motif of love has always been common in the literature. The masters of the pen revealed different facets of this feeling, trying to understand how it affects a person. In the work of A. Kuprin, this motive takes pride of place. main topic "Garnet Bracelet" - unrequited love. The problematics of the work is dictated by the specified theme.

The events of the story unfold at the Sheins' dacha. The author begins the work with landscape sketches. The end of summer did not please with good weather, but in early September, nature compensated for the gloomy August with sunny days. Reading the work further, it is easy to guess that the landscapes not only help to immerse yourself in the countryside atmosphere, but also symbolize the changes in the life of the main character Vera Nikolaevna Sheina: her life with her husband was gray and boring until the woman received an unusual gift.

At the beginning of the work, the reader observes only two heroes - the Shein spouses. The author focuses on the fact that the love between these people has faded away, or rather, “turned into a feeling of lasting, true, true friendship.” The system of images is supplemented in an episode reproducing the celebration of the princess's name day.

The holiday is remembered by the stories of Prince Vasily Lvovich about the telegraph operator's unrequited love for his wife. On the same day, Vera Nikolaevna received a garnet bracelet and a letter signed with initials as a gift. The woman told about a strange gift to her husband, father's friend and brother. They decided to find the author of the letter.

It turned out that the gift was presented by the official Zheltkov, who was madly in love with the princess. The brother of Vera Nikolaevna returned the bracelet to the man. After an explanation with the Sheins, Zheltkov committed suicide. He left a note to his beloved, in which he asked to play a Beethoven sonata if Vera remembered him. In the evening, the woman fulfilled the request of the deceased and finally felt that the man had forgiven her.

"Garnet Bracelet" is filled with reflections of love that escape from the lips of the characters. These thoughts are like keys to the door, behind which are hidden answers about the essence of a tender, but sometimes ruthless feeling. However, the author does not try to impose his point of view. The reader must draw his own conclusions. To understand what the writer teaches, you need to analyze the actions of the characters, their characters and destinies.

The work of A. Kuprin is filled with symbols. main role plays a garnet bracelet, hence the title of the story. Decoration symbolizes true love. There are five in the bracelet. precious stones. In one of the parables of King Solomon, they meant love, passion and anger. The interpretation of the meaning of the title of the story will be incomplete without taking into account the symbolic component. Also, Beethoven's sonata attracts special attention, which in this context can be interpreted as a symbol of unhappy, but eternal love.

The work develops idea that real love does not disappear from the heart without a trace. Main thought- sincere love exists, you just need to be able to notice and accept it.

Composition

Features of the composition of the work are manifested both at the formal and at the semantic level. First, A. Kuprin refers the reader to Beethoven's sonnet by means of an epigraph. In the finale, it turns out that the musical masterpiece plays the role of a symbol. With this symbolic image a frame is created that enhances the ideological sound.

The order of the plot elements is not violated. The exposition - landscape sketches, acquaintance with the Shein family, a story about the upcoming holiday. The plot - Vera Nikolaevna receiving a gift. The development of events - a story about name days, the search for a gift addressee, a meeting with Zheltkov. The climax is Zheltkov's confession that only death will kill his feelings. The denouement is the death of Zheltkov and the story of how Vera listens to the sonata.

Main characters

Genre

The genre of "Garnet Bracelet" is a story. The work reveals several storylines, the system of images is quite branched. In terms of volume, it also approaches the story. A. Kuprin was a representative of realism, and the analyzed story is written in this direction. It is based on real events, in addition, the author expressively conveyed the atmosphere of his era.

Personality and environment, individual and society - many Russians thought about this 19th writers century. There has been a marked increase in interest in this topic in late XIX- the beginning of the 20th century, in an era that was a turning point for Russia. In the spirit of humanistic traditions inherited from the classics, AI Kuprin considers this issue.

The world of Kuprin's heroes is colorful and crowded. The writer lived a bright life filled with diverse impressions - he was a military man, a clerk, a land surveyor, and an actor of a wandering circus troupe. Kuprin often said that he did not understand writers who did not find anything in nature and people more interesting than themselves. Kuprin described many human fates, while the heroes of his works are most often not lucky, prosperous, satisfied with themselves and life people, but unhappy, suffering or simply unlucky. In the characters of the stories "White Poodle", "Taper", "Gambrinus", as well as many others, the features of a "little man" are guessed, but the writer does not just reproduce this type, but rethinks it.

Kuprin's story "Garnet Bracelet", written in 1911, is based on a real event - the love of a telegraph official for his wife important official, member State Council Lyubimov. This story is recalled by the son of Lyubimova, the author famous memories Lev Lyubimov. In life, everything ended differently than in Kuprin's story - the official accepted the bracelet and stopped writing letters, nothing more is known about him. In the Lyubimov family, this incident was remembered as strange and curious.

Under the writer's pen, he appears as a sad and tragic story of the life of a little man, whom love exalted and destroyed. An extensive, unhurried exposition introduces us to the Sheiny's house. The very story of extraordinary love, the story of the garnet bracelet, is told in such a way that we see it through the eyes of different people: Prince Vasily, who tells it as an anecdotal incident, brother Nikolai, to whom everything in this story seems insulting and suspicious, Vera Nikolaevna herself, and, finally, General Anosov, who was the first to suggest that maybe true love lies here, “about which women dream and which men are no longer capable of.

The circle to which Vera Nikolaevna belongs cannot admit that this is a real feeling, not so much because of the strangeness of Zheltkov's behavior, but because of the prejudices that rule them. Kuprin, wishing to convince us readers of the authenticity of Zheltkov's love, resorts to the most irrefutable argument - the hero's suicide. Thus, not only the right of the “little man” to happiness is affirmed, but also the motive of his moral superiority over the people who so cruelly offended him, who failed to understand the strength of the feeling that made up the whole meaning of his life, arises.

Kuprin's story is both sad and bright. It is permeated by a fictitious beginning: a fictitious work is indicated as an epigraph, and the story ends with a scene when the heroine listens to music at a tragic moment of moral enlightenment for her.

The text of the work includes the theme of the inevitability of the death of the protagonist - it is conveyed through the symbolism of light: at the moment of receiving the bracelet, Vera Nikolaevna sees red stones in it and thinks with alarm that they look like blood. Finally, the story raises the problem of a clash of different cultural traditions: the Mongolian blood of Vera and Anna's father, a Tatar prince, introduces the theme of love-passion, recklessness into the story; the mention that the sisters' mother is an Englishwoman introduces the theme of rationality, impassibility in the sphere of feelings, the power of the mind over the heart. In the final part of the story, a third line appears: the landlady turns out to be a Catholic, and this introduces into the work the theme of love-worship, which surrounds the Mother of God in Catholicism, love-self-sacrifice.

The hero of Kuprin, a small man, is faced with a misunderstanding of others, with people for whom love is a kind of madness, and, faced with it, dies.

In the wonderful story "Olesya" we see the poetic image of a girl who grew up in the hut of an old "sorceress", outside the usual norms. peasant family. Olesya's love for the intellectual Ivan Timofeevich, who accidentally drove into a remote forest village, is a free, simple and strong feeling without any rational commitment. This story has tragic end: Olesya's free life is invaded by the mercenary calculations of village officials and the superstitions of dark peasants. Beaten and ridiculed, Olesya is forced to flee from the forest nest.

The atmosphere of revolutionary days breathes in Kuprin's excellent story "Gambrinus", created in the alarming year 1907. Subject all-conquering power and art is woven here with the idea of ​​democracy, the bold protest of the "little man" against the black forces of arbitrariness and reaction. Meek and cheerful Sasha to his outstanding talent violinist and sincerity attracts a diverse crowd of port loaders, fishermen, smugglers to the Odessa tavern. They like that reflects the time away Russo-Japanese War until the rebellious days of the revolution, when Sasha's violin sounds with the vigorous rhythms of the Marseillaise. In the days of the onset of terror, Sashka challenges the disguised detectives and the Black Hundred "scoundrels in a hat", refusing to play the monarchical anthem at their request, openly accusing them of murders and pogroms.

Crippled by the tsarist secret police, he returns to his port friends to play the deafeningly cheerful "Shepherd" for them. Free creativity, the strength of the national spirit, according to Kuprin, are invincible.

Thus, the writer comprehended the problem of "man and the world around him" as a tragic collision, and the path of man in this world - as the path of his insight and death, but death is not meaningless, but purifying and high.

The story of the great genius of love prose A. I. Kuprin "Garnet Bracelet" can be interpreted in different ways, arguing on the topic of who is here real hero. The opinions of critics differ on this issue, some consider Zheltkov to be the hero, who is trying to prove his love by any means, but also to declare his existence, others prefer the heroine's husband, who simply wants his wife to be happy. An analysis of the work according to the plan will help to understand this. This material can be used in preparation for the exam in literature in grade 11.

Brief analysis

Year of writing - 1910

History of creation - The writer took a real story told to him by one of his friends as the basis for the plot.

Theme - The main theme of this story is love, unrequited and real.

Composition - In the exposition, the action begins, introducing the heroes of the story, followed by a plot when Vera Nikolaevna receives a garnet bracelet as a gift. Features of the composition in the use of symbols, secret meanings. Here is the garden, which is described at the time of withering, and short stories, the bracelet itself, the main symbol is the Beethoven sonata, which is the leitmotif of the story. The action develops, Zheltkov dies, and Beethoven's sonata sounds the climax, and - the denouement.

Genre - It is difficult to determine the genre essence of "Garnet Bracelet" According to its composition, consisting of thirteen chapters, it can be attributed to the genre of the story, and the writer himself believed that "Garnet Bracelet" is a story.

Direction - In the story, everything is subordinated to the direction of realism, where there is a slight touch of romanticism.

History of creation

The history of the creation of the story has real basis. Once the writer was visiting his friend, where they considered family photos. A friend told a story that happened in his family. Some official fell in love with his mother, he wrote letters to her. Once this petty official sent some trinket as a gift to his beloved woman. Having found out who this official was, they made him a suggestion, and he disappeared from the horizon. Kuprin came up with the idea to embellish this story, covering in more detail love theme. He added a romantic note, elevated the ending, and created his "Garnet Bracelet", leaving the essence of the story. The year of writing the story is 1910, and in 1911 the story was published in print.

Subject

Alexander Kuprin is considered the unsurpassed Russian genius of love prose, he created many works that glorify love in all its manifestations.

In The Pomegranate Bracelet, the analysis of the story is subordinated to this theme, beloved by the author, the theme of love.

In essence, this work deals with moral issues relationships associated with love relationship heroes of the story. In this work, all events are connected with love, this is even the meaning of the title of this story, since the pomegranate is a symbol of love, a symbol of passion, blood and anger.

The writer, giving such a name to his title, immediately makes it clear what the main idea of ​​the story is devoted to.

He considers various forms love, its various manifestations. Each person described by the writer has a different attitude to this feeling. For someone, it's just a habit, social status, superficial well-being. For another, this is the only, real feeling carried through the whole life, for the sake of which it was worth living.

For the protagonist Zheltkov, love is a sacred feeling for which he lives, realizing that his love is doomed to unrequitedness. The adoration of a beloved woman helps him endure all life's hardships, believe in the sincerity of his feelings. Vera Nikolaevna for him is the meaning of his whole life. When Zheltkov was told that he was compromising the woman he loved with his behavior, the official concluded that the problems social inequality will stand in his way to happiness forever, and committed suicide.

Composition

The composition of the story contains many secret meanings and symbols. The garnet bracelet gives a vivid definition to the all-consuming theme of passionate love, defining it as blood, makes it clear that this love can be destructive and unhappy, anger led to Zheltkov's suicide.

The fading garden reminds of Vera Nikolaevna's fading love for her husband. The drawings and poems in the family notes of her husband are the story of his love, sincere and pure, which has not undergone any changes during their entire history. life together. Despite her fading passion and cool attitude towards him, he continues to love his wife for real.

General Amosov prefers to share love stories with his interlocutors, which is also symbolic. This only person in a work that correctly understands the true essence of love. He is a great psychologist, an expert human souls who clearly sees all their secret and overt thoughts.

Through the whole work runs like a red thread Beethoven's second sonata, main character the whole story. The action develops against the background of music. The final sound of the sonata is a strong climax. Beethoven's work reveals all the understatement, all the innermost thoughts and feelings of the characters.

The plot of the action - Vera Nikolaevna receives a gift. The development of the action - the brother and husband go to sort things out with Zheltkov. The protagonist of the work, remaining aloof throughout the story, commits suicide. The climax is a Beethoven sonata, and Vera Nikolaevna comes to realize her life.

Kuprin masterfully ends his story, bringing all the actions to a denouement, where the true power of love is revealed.

Under the influence of music, the sleeping soul of Vera Nikolaevna wakes up. She begins to realize that she has lived an essentially aimless and useless life, all the while creating apparent well-being. happy family, and true love, accompanying her all her life, passed by.
What the writer's work teaches, everyone decides in his own way, everything here depends on the reader. Only he decides in whose favor to make a choice.

Genre

The work of the great writer consists of thirteen chapters, belongs to the genre of the story. The writer thought it was a story. The period of ongoing events lasts for a long time, it involves a large number of characters, and it is fully consistent with the accepted genre.

Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin is an outstanding Russian writer of the early 20th century. In his works, he sang love: genuine, sincere and real, not demanding anything in return. Far from every person is given to experience such feelings, and only a few are capable of seeing them, accepting and surrendering to them in the midst of the abyss of life events.

A. I. Kuprin - biography and creativity

Little Alexander Kuprin lost his father when he was only a year old. His mother, a representative of an old family of Tatar princes, made a fateful decision for the boy to move to Moscow. At the age of 10, he entered the Moscow military academy, the education he received played a significant role in the work of the writer.

Later, he will create more than one work dedicated to his military youth: the writer's memoirs can be found in the stories "At the Break (Cadets)", "Army Ensign", in the novel "Junkers". For 4 years, Kuprin remained an officer in an infantry regiment, but the desire to become a novelist never left him: the first famous work, the story "In the dark", Kuprin wrote at the age of 22. The life of the army will be reflected more than once in his work, including in his most significant work, the story "Duel". One of important topics that made the writer's works a classic of Russian literature was love. Kuprin, masterfully wielding a pen, creating incredibly realistic, detailed and thoughtful images, was not afraid to demonstrate the realities of society, exposing its most immoral sides, as, for example, in the story "The Pit".

The story "Garnet Bracelet": the history of creation

Kuprin began work on the story in difficult times for the country: one revolution ended, the funnel of another began to spin. The theme of love in Kuprin's work "Garnet Bracelet" is created in opposition to the mood of society, it becomes sincere, honest, disinterested. "Garnet Bracelet" became an ode to such love, a prayer and a requiem for it.

The story was published in 1911. It was based on real story, which made a deep impression on the writer, Kuprin almost completely preserved it in his work. Only the final was changed: in the original, Zheltkov's prototype renounced his love, but remained alive. The suicide that ended Zheltkov's love in the story is just another interpretation of the tragic ending of incredible feelings, which makes it possible to fully demonstrate the destructive power of the callousness and lack of will of the people of that time, which is what the "Garnet Bracelet" tells about. The theme of love in the work is one of the key ones, it is worked out in detail, and the fact that the story was created on the basis real events makes it even more expressive.

The theme of love in Kuprin's work "Garnet Bracelet" is at the center of the plot. main character works - Vera Nikolaevna Sheina, wife of the prince. She constantly receives letters from a secret admirer, but one day a fan presents her with an expensive gift - a garnet bracelet. The theme of love in the work begins precisely here. Considering such a gift indecent and compromising, she told her husband and brother about it. Using their connections, they easily find the sender of the gift.

It turns out to be a modest and petty official Georgy Zheltkov, who, having accidentally seen Sheina, fell in love with her with all his heart and soul. He contented himself with allowing himself to occasionally write letters. The prince appeared to him with a conversation, after which Zheltkov felt that he had let down his pure and immaculate love, had betrayed Vera Nikolaevna, having compromised her with his gift. He wrote a farewell letter, where he asked his beloved to forgive him and listen to Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 2 in parting, and then shot himself. This story alarmed and interested Sheina, she, having received permission from her husband, went to the apartment of the late Zheltkov. There, for the first time in her life, she experienced those feelings that she had not recognized for all eight years of the existence of this love. Already at home, listening to that very melody, she realizes that she has lost her chance for happiness. This is how the theme of love is revealed in the work “Garnet Bracelet”.

Images of the main characters

The images of the main characters reflect the social realities not only of that time. These roles are characteristic of humanity as a whole. In pursuit of status material well-being a person again and again refuses the most important thing - a bright and pure feeling that does not need expensive gifts and big words.
The image of Georgy Zheltkov is the main confirmation of this. He's not rich, he's unremarkable. This humble person who does not require anything in return for his love. Even in suicide note he indicates a false reason for his act, so as not to bring trouble to his beloved, who indifferently refused him.

Vera Nikolaevna is a young woman accustomed to living exclusively in accordance with the foundations of society. She does not shy away from love, but does not consider it a vital necessity. She has a husband who was able to give her everything she needed, and she does not consider the existence of other feelings possible. This happens until she encounters the abyss after the death of Zheltkov - the only thing that can excite the heart and inspire turned out to be hopelessly missed.

The main theme of the story "Garnet Bracelet" is the theme of love in the work

Love in the story is a symbol of the nobility of the soul. Callous Prince Shein or Nikolai does not have this; Vera Nikolaevna herself can be called callous - until the moment of the trip to the apartment of the deceased. Love was the highest manifestation of happiness for Zheltkov, he did not need anything else, he found the bliss and magnificence of life in his feelings. Vera Nikolaevna saw in this unrequited love only a tragedy, her admirer aroused only pity in her, and this lies major drama heroine - she was not able to appreciate the beauty and purity of these feelings, this is noted by every essay based on the work "Garnet Bracelet". The theme of love, interpreted in different ways, will invariably be found in every text.

Vera Nikolaevna herself committed the betrayal of love when she took the bracelet to her husband and brother - the foundations of society turned out to be more important for her than the only bright and disinterested feeling that took place in her emotionally meager life. She realizes this too late: that feeling that occurs once every few hundred years has disappeared. It touched her lightly, but she couldn't see the touch.

Love that leads to self-destruction

Kuprin himself earlier in his essays somehow expressed the idea that love is always a tragedy, it contains equally all emotions and joys, pain, happiness, joy and death. All these feelings were placed in one little man, George Zheltkov, who saw sincere happiness in unrequited feelings for a cold and inaccessible woman. His love had no ups and downs until brute force in the person of Vasily Shein interfered with it. The resurrection of love and the resurrection of Zheltkov himself symbolically takes place at the moment of Vera Nikolaevna's insight, when she listens to the very music of Beethoven and cries at the acacia tree. Such is the "Garnet Bracelet" - the theme of love in the work is full of sadness and bitterness.

The main conclusions from the work

Perhaps the main line is the theme of love in the work. Kuprin demonstrates the depth of feelings that not every soul is able to understand and accept.

Love for Kuprin requires the rejection of morals and norms forcibly imposed by society. Love does not need money or a high position in society, but it requires much more from a person: disinterestedness, sincerity, complete dedication and selflessness. I would like to note the following, finishing the analysis of the work "Garnet Bracelet": the theme of love in it makes you renounce all social values, but in return it gives you true happiness.

Cultural heritage of the work

Huge contribution to development love lyrics made Kuprin: "Garnet Bracelet", analysis of the work, the theme of love and its study became mandatory in school curriculum. This work has also been filmed several times. The first film based on the story was released 4 years after its publication, in 1914.

Them. N. M. Zagursky in 2013 staged the ballet of the same name.