Presentation on the product garnet bracelet. Presentation on the topic "Garnet bracelet" A.I. Kuprin ". it was god and destiny




slide 1

« Garnet bracelet"- a hymn of triumphant love.
Completed by: Gaysina T.S. teacher of Russian language and literature

slide 2

The day would darken in the soul, And the darkness would come again, If we banished love on earth, Only he knew bliss, Who passionately did not live in his heart, And who did not know love, he did not care What did not live ... Jean Baptiste Molière

slide 3

Love is the only passion that recognizes neither the past nor the future. O. Balzac

slide 4

I came to the sage and asked him: "What is love? He said" Nothing "But, I know, many books have been written: Some write eternity, while others write in a moment ... It will scorch with fire, then it will melt like snow, What is love? "It's all a man!" And then I looked him straight in the face, How can I understand you? "Nothing or everything?" He said with a smile: "You yourself gave the answer!:" Nothing or everything! no!" Omar Khayyam

slide 5

We can get rid of the disease with the help of medicines, but the only cure for loneliness, despair and hopelessness is love. There are many people in the world who are dying of hunger, but even more of those who are dying because they lack love. Mother Teresa Love is like mercury: you can hold it in an open hand, but not in a clenched hand. Dorothy Parker

slide 6

Love is:
LOVE is an intimate and deep feeling, aspiration for another person, human community or idea. (Big Encyclopedic Dictionary) LOVE is 1) a deep emotional attraction, a strong heartfelt feeling; 2) a feeling of deep disposition, selfless and sincere affection; 3) constant, strong inclination, passion for something; 4) the object of love (the one or the one whom someone loves, to whom he is attracted, disposition). ( Dictionary S.I. Ozhegova) LOVE - 1) a feeling of affection based on a common interest, ideals, on a willingness to give one's strength to a common cause; 2) Inclination, disposition or attraction to something. (Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language, edited by D.N. Ushakov)

Slide 7

Which of the statements about love heard at the very beginning of the lesson would you use as an epigraph to the lesson? Justify your choice.

Slide 8

Slide 9

One of the most fragrant and sad works about love is A. Kuprin's story "Garnet Bracelet". Romantic Kuprin deifies love. Each word here glows, shimmers, sparkling with a precious cut. Love to self-destruction, willingness to die in the name of the woman he loves is the theme of the story.

Slide 10

The history of the creation of the story "Garnet Bracelet"
Kuprin was told an anecdotal story that happened to the well-born family of Prince Dmitry Nikolaevich Lyubimov. “... For several years, my mother, Lyudmila Ivanovna, almost every day received letters from an unknown addressee, who in his messages revealed his feelings for her. Realizing that their inequality in social status did not give him any hope for a reciprocal feeling, he wrote that it was not in his power to stop reminding him of himself. Letters were kept in the family for a long time. Everyone has forgotten about them...

slide 11

This went on until a garnet bracelet was received as a gift from a telegraph operator in love. Our family recognized it as an insult. As described in the story, Prince Lyubimov and Lyudmila Ivanovna's brother, Nikolai, sought out an employee with the "strange" surname Yellow. My father later told me that the visit to Zheltoy had shaken him. The telegraph operator lived in a shabby attic on the sixth floor. It smelled of mice, cats, kerosene, and laundry. During Yellow's explanation, the father was more silent, and the uncle, who is young, hot and arrogant, was needlessly harsh. Yellow promised not to write to my mother again. This is how it all ended .. In any case, we do not know anything about his further fate.

slide 12

slide 13

What is Kuprin's work about? Why is the story called "Garnet Bracelet"? What does it symbolize?

Slide 14

BRACELET SYMBOLIZES
LOVE
DEPRECIATION
DEATH
ETERNITY

slide 15

How do you understand the meaning of the epigraph to the story?
L. van Beethoven 2 Son. (op. 2, no. 2). Largo Appassionato

slide 16

Beethoven's music conveys the feelings of the characters in the story

Slide 17

Who is the main character of the story?

Slide 18

The main character of the story is Princess Vera Nikolaevna Sheina. The action of the story takes place on September 17 - the day of the name day of Vera Nikolaevna. The husband of Vera Nikolaevna was Prince Vasily Lvovich Shein. Vera Nikolaevna's former passionate love for her husband turned into a feeling of lasting, faithful, true friendship.

Slide 19

What mood does the landscape create? What unites these descriptions: the feelings of Faith and the garden? What was the author's goal?

Slide 20

Read the description of the gift. Compare it with the gifts of the prince and Anna.

slide 21

“In the middle, between the big stones, you will see one green one. This is a very rare variety of pomegranate - green pomegranate. ... it has the ability to communicate the gift of foresight to the women wearing it ... "
What did we learn about the bracelet from Zheltkov's letter? Why did Zheltkov give Vera a bracelet, a family treasure, the most expensive thing that passed from generation to generation to women in the Zheltkov family?

slide 22

The note tells about the bracelet, that it is a family heirloom, and that it 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.

slide 23

"Garnet Bracelet" is a story about love. How many love stories are in the story?

slide 24

Love stories in a story
Vera Nikolaevna and Vasily Lvovich; Anna Nikolaevna and Gustav Ivanovich; General Anosov and his wife; Vera Nikolaevna and Zheltkov
General Anosov and Bulgarian; "Regimental Messalina" and ensign; Lenochka, captain and lieutenant

Slide 25

What do the characters in the story say about love?

slide 26

Heroes about love:
Anosov: “Love must be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world! No comforts of life, calculations, and compromises should concern her.” Vera Nikolaevna: “And what is it: love or madness?” Zheltkov: “... this is not a disease, not a manic idea - this is love, which God was pleased to reward me for something“ Let Your Name shine ... has not yet found an interpretation

Slide 27

Group work QUESTIONS
The first group: "What is the role of the image of General Anosov in the story?" The second group: "How and why did Prince Shein's attitude towards Zheltkov change?"
The third group: "What is the meaning of the mention in the story of" the great sufferers of Pushkin and Napoleon ""? The fourth group: “The fate of Zheltkov - the story of a “little man” or a “huge tragedy of the soul”?

Slide 28

General Anosov
“According to the current customs, this fragment of antiquity seemed to be a gigantic and unusually picturesque figure”

slide 30

"Great Sufferers"
“She remembered that she saw the same peaceful expression on the masks of the great sufferers - Pushkin and Napoleon”

Slide 31

NAPOLEON: "slave of power"
PUSHKIN: "a slave of honor"
ZHELTKOV: "slave of love"

slide 32

What did General Anosov learn about Zheltkov from Vera? What characterization of Zheltkov do we find in Vera's story and in Anosov's conclusions? (Ch. 8, p. 174) Can Zheltkov's feelings for Vera be called madness? "What is this love or madness?" (ch.10, p.181, ch.11, p.187-188)

Slide 33

Why did Zheltkov “force” Vera to listen to this particular Beethoven piece?

slide 34

"Hallowed be Thy name" - the refrain sounds 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, merged with Beethoven's sonata No. 2 Largo Appassionato. The story ends on this tragic note.

Slide 35

“Now I will show you in gentle sounds a life that humbly and joyfully doomed itself to torment, suffering and death. I knew no complaint, no reproach, no pain of pride. I am before you - one prayer: "Hallowed be thy name." Yes, I foresee suffering, blood and death. And I think that it is difficult for the body to part with the soul, but, Beautiful, praise to you, passionate praise and quiet love: "Hallowed be Your name."

"GREAT POWER OF LOVE!"

(based on the novel by A.I. Kuprin "Garnet Bracelet")


The greatest gift you can give or receive is love.

P. Bragg

Love is a priceless gift. It's the only thing we can give, and yet you still have it.

L.N. Tolstoy



EXERCISE 1:

1. What positive feelings can LOVE cause?

2. What negative feelings can cause LOVE?

3. Does LOVE elevate a person or not?

4. Choose epithets for the word LOVE


LOVE IS:

  • LOVE - this is an intimate and deep feeling, aspiration to another person, human community or idea. (Big Encyclopedic Dictionary)
  • LOVE it is 1) a deep emotional attraction, a strong heart feeling; 2) a feeling of deep disposition, selfless and sincere affection; 3) constant, strong inclination, passion for something; 4) the object of love (the one or the one whom someone loves, to whom he is attracted, disposition). (Explanatory Dictionary of S.I. Ozhegov)
  • LOVE 1) a sense of affection based on a common interest, ideals, on the readiness to give one's strength to a common cause; 2) Inclination, disposition or attraction to something. (Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language, edited by D.N. Ushakov)


The story "Garnet Bracelet" has a very real basis. However, Kuprin's talent, a concrete life fact, turned into a story about which the best minds and souls of mankind have been dreaming and yearning for centuries: poets, novelists, musicians, artists.

Love is stronger than death. He is grateful to the one who evoked this wonderful feeling in his heart, which elevated him, a little man, above the vast vain world, the world of injustice and malice. That is why, leaving life, he thanks her, blesses his beloved: "Hallowed be thy name."

The love of a little man ends tragically - he dies. His spiritual vow was the words: "Silence and perish."

Love allows the heroes to rise above everyday life, vanity. In a letter, Kuprin wrote: “Individuality is expressed not in strength, not in dexterity, not in mind, not in talent, but in love.”



  • Work on the story "Garnet Bracelet" was going on in the autumn of 1910 in Odessa. At this time, Kuprin often visited the family of the Odessa doctor L. Ya. Maisels and listened to Beethoven's Second Sonata performed by his wife. Beethoven's Sonata "Appassionata", one of the most intense, languid, passionate creations of the human genius in music, awakened Kuprin to literary creativity.
  • The sounds of the sonata connected in his imagination with the story of bright love, which he was a witness to. On October 15, 1910, Kuprin wrote about the plot of the story to his friend, critic F. D. Batyushkov: “This, remember, is the sad story of the little telegraph official P. P. Zholtikov, who was so hopelessly, touchingly and selflessly in love with Lyubimov’s wife (D. N. is now the governor in Vilna)".

  • There is another vital source of the work, it is connected with the music of Beethoven. As you know, Beethoven was never destined to marry. While living in Vienna, he gave quite a few private music lessons to girls from wealthy aristocratic families. One of these students was the young Countess Juliet Guicciardi - the famous Moonlight Sonata in C-sharp minor op. is dedicated to her. 27 No. 2 (1801), which has become a kind of musical monument to tragic, unrequited love. It is impossible not to mention one more important circumstance.
  • After the composer's death, a letter was found in a secret drawer of his wardrobe, called "Letter to a Distant Beloved".
  • The composer's romantic love story may have been known to Kuprin and somehow influenced the content, the final appearance of the "Garnet Bracelet" - the idea of ​​impossibility, unrealizability, tragic doom of high and pure love, so important for Kuprin.

In my soul the day would fade,

And darkness would come again

Whenever on earth we banished love.

Only he knew bliss

Who passionately heart unlived,

And who did not know love,

He doesn't even live...

J.B. Molière


Pomegranate, according to some sources, was formerly called "carbuncle" (from the Latin "carbo" - coal, they probably believed that the mineral is hot like coal). The name "garnet" was given to this stone by the famous scientist and alchemist Albertus Magnus.

It was gold, low-grade, very thick, but puffy, and from the outside it was completely covered with small old, poorly polished grenades. But on the other hand, in the middle of the bracelet, surrounded by some strange little green stone, five beautiful cabochon garnets, each the size of a pea, rose. When Vera, with a random movement, successfully turned the bracelet in front of the fire of an electric light bulb, then in them, deep under their smooth ovoid surface, lovely, densely red living lights suddenly lit up.

"Just like blood!" Vera thought with unexpected anxiety.


Lovethis is

passion, these are strong and real feelings that elevate a person, awaken his best qualities, this is truthfulness and honesty in relationships


EXERCISE 2 :

3. Does perfect love exist?

4. Is loving and being loved the same thing? What's better?

1. "Love" and "falling in love": how do these concepts differ?

2. Love without reciprocity: happiness or tragedy?


  • Anosov:“Love must be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world! No comforts of life, calculations and compromises should concern her.”
  • Vera Nikolaevna: "And what is it: love or madness?"
  • Zheltkov:“... this is not a disease, not a manic idea - this is love, which God was pleased to reward me for something ... “Hallowed be thy name ...”
  • Shein:“... is it possible to control such a feeling as love - a feeling that has not yet found an interpretation for itself”

TASK 3:

1. Does unearthly love occur?

2. How to attract love?

3. Why does love govern a person, and not vice versa?

4. How does A.I. Kuprin see true love?


  • Love for the writer is the basis of everything that exists: “Love must be a tragedy, the greatest mystery in the world. And no life's inconveniences, calculations and compromises should concern her.
  • His heroes are people with an open soul and a pure heart, rebelling against the humiliation of a person, trying to defend human dignity.
  • The writer sings of sublime love, contrasting it with hatred, enmity, mistrust, antipathy, indifference. Through the mouth of General Anosov, he says that this feeling should not be either frivolous or primitive, and, moreover, based on profit and self-interest: “Love should be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world! touch". Love, according to Kuprin, should be based on lofty feelings, on mutual respect, honesty and truthfulness. She must strive for perfection.

And yet, a person needs love for purification, for acquiring the meaning of life. A loving person is capable of sacrifice for the sake of peace and happiness of a loved one. And yet he is happy.

We must bring to love all the best that we feel, that we are proud of. And then the bright sun will surely illuminate it, and even the most ordinary love will become sacred, merging into one with eternity. Forever…

GEMS. GARNET

  • PURPLE-RED garnet - a stone of love, flame, passion. It contributes to family happiness, gives mutual love, fulfills cherished dreams, and protects against accidents on the road. The pomegranate stone is a talisman for people with professions that involve risk.
  • RED garnet is a stone of love, anger and blood, flame and passion. According to legend, the one who wears a red pomegranate gains power over people, he drives away sadness and brings joy. It also makes its owner cheerful and pleasant for others, protects from bad dreams, as well as from witchcraft and the "evil eye". It helps people who are naturally active and strong-willed to achieve power and a high official position. Gives a strong energy boost to its owner. This beautiful gem is considered by many to be the stone of lovers, it protects against betrayal and calls for gratitude. It contributes to the good mood of its owner, gives him ease in dancing, strengthens the desire to be a true friend, especially to the one who gave this wonderful red gem.

YELLOW GARNETS symbolize and personify perseverance and strength, glory and beauty, constancy and devotion, health and fidelity, splendor, purity and brilliance.

BLACK Pomegranate helps to better communicate with the world of the dead to know your future


  • The Persian poet Khafia wrote: "As a sunbeam ignites a pomegranate in your ring, so my heart kindles love for you."
  • Lovers most willingly exchanged this stone. Garnet rings were given as evidence of friendship, memory, gratitude; these jewelry were especially fashionable in the era of romanticism, when symbolism was given great importance. Rings, brooches, pendants in the form of joined hearts, flowers, four-leaf clover, horseshoes, anchors were made from small red stones.
  • In ancient times, profiles of rulers, images of gods, portraits of loved ones were carved on the surface of large polished garnets - these are gems that are usually beautiful and speak of the skill of an engraver, which we can still admire in museums. Eastern people valued red stones for their alleged healing properties.

  • Doctors advised to wear jewelry with pomegranates in case of illness and high temperature. This belief survived until the Middle Ages, when it was believed that garnet necklaces helped with sore throats and persistent headaches. The pomegranate was also supposed to provide its owner with a good mood and cheerful thoughts, but only on the condition that it was never removed. This stone was considered not only a "talisman of lovers", it was also called the "stone of honesty". Whoever took possession of it by robbery and theft could not expect that the pomegranate would bring him happiness.
  • In the XV century. In Italy they told an amusing story about a thief who robbed the shop of a rich goldsmith in Florence. Among the stolen valuables was a gold chain studded with sparkling grenades. After some time, the robber was caught, and when the prey was taken from him, to everyone's surprise they found that the stones had lost their color, clouded and almost turned black, and only when the chain was returned to its owner, the grenades again sparkled with full brilliance.

Pearls - it is about him that they talk about as radiant and unique, it is he who is sung in verse, only his perfection is comparable to the beauty of a woman. Yellowish and brown pearls have long been valued in the east, while snow-white pearls with a bluish tint are closer to us. Since ancient times, there are many legends that tell the story of the origin of precious pearls. These are “frozen drops of rain”, and “moonlight”, and “tears of the sea”. Today we know the composition of pearls, these are calcium carbonate, conchiolin and water. Here is such a wonderful gem created by nature, and it is found in the shells of marine and freshwater mollusks.

PEARL


  • In a low person, pearls are short-lived: they darken and can crumble. In water travel, the pearl makes sure that they are unhindered, and knows how to negotiate with the water element and its inhabitants, one has only to lower it into the water. Promotes prosperity and longevity, brings happiness to its owner. The brilliance of pearls depends on the health of its owner. After the death of the owner, the Pearl fades. In ancient Rome, pearls were dedicated to the goddess of love, Venus. A pearl ring protects from thieves and from unfortunate transactions. It must be worn by Pisces, because. he guards them from rash acts.

  • Mystical properties: Promotes clairvoyance, protects from the evil eye, gives a person the ability to think objectively, not to commit rash acts, strengthens fidelity in love. However, it helps only self-confident and fanatical people; it can bring tears and loss of hope to all others. However, despite the great popularity, pearls are a very dangerous stone. He, as they say, takes off his "rose-colored glasses" - a person sees the surrounding reality without embellishment. At the same time, pearl pacifies pride and vanity, deprives ambitious aspirations, bestows humility and constancy. This is the stone of true believers.


"We should be grateful to Kuprin for everything - for his deep humanity, for his subtlest talent, for his love for his country, for his unshakable faith in the happiness of his people, and, finally, for his ability to ignite from the slightest contact with poetry that never died. and it is free and easy to write about it."

Konstantin Paustovsky

slide 2

Love… alone is more valuable than wealth, glory and wisdom… more expensive than life itself, because it does not value even life and is not afraid of death.

A.I. Kuprin

slide 3

Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare:

Her eyes don't look like stars, Her lips can't be called corals, Her open skin is not snow-white, And a strand twists like a black wire. With a damask rose, scarlet or white, The shade of these cheeks cannot be compared. And the body smells the way the body smells, Not like a delicate violet petal. You will not find perfect lines in it, Special light on the forehead. I don't know how the goddesses walk, But my dear steps on the ground. And yet she will hardly yield to those Whom in the comparisons of magnificent slandered.

slide 4

"Crazy Love or Crazy?"

slide 5

telegraph operator signed G.S.Zh. little official Eight years of great emotions, modest desires and great sincere feeling. to Vera Nikolaevna the princes Shein and Bulat-Tuganovskiy

slide 6

General Anosov

Maybe it's just a crazy guy ... "Ah - who knows? Maybe your life path, Verochka, was crossed by exactly the kind of love that women dream of and that men are no longer capable of.”

Slide 7

"to accomplish a feat, to give one's life, to go to torment is not work at all, but one joy." “Love must be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world! No comforts of life, calculations and compromises should concern her.”

Slide 8

Husband Vasily Lvovich and brother Nikolai Nikolaevich in an apartment on the eighth floor

“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” seven years of hopeless and polite love

Slide 9

ZHELTKOV - VERA

there is nothing in the world like her, there is nothing better, there is no animal, no plant, no star, no person more beautiful and tender than the suicide of an official of the control chamber G. S. Zheltkov. All the beauty of the earth seemed to be embodied in you ... God grant you happiness, and let nothing temporary and worldly disturb your beautiful soul

Slide 10

“I remember your every step, smile, look, the sound of your gait. Sweet sadness, quiet, beautiful sadness are wrapped around my last memories ... I'm leaving alone, silently, it was so pleasing to God and fate. "Hallowed be thy name."

slide 11

VERA YOLKOV

“It’s not my fault, Vera Nikolaevna, that God was pleased to send me, as an enormous happiness, love for you ... for me, my whole life lies only in you ... I am infinitely grateful to you only for the fact that you exist. I checked myself - this is not a disease, not a manic idea - this is love, which God was pleased to reward me for something ... Leaving, I say in delight: "Hallowed be thy name."

slide 12

Faith

the love that every woman dreams of has passed her by... All day long she walked around the flower garden and the orchard and thought about a man she had never seen. Maybe this was that real, selfless, true love that grandfather spoke about.

slide 13

VERA

Princess Vera hugged the trunk of an acacia tree, clung to it and wept... And at that moment the amazing music, as if obeying her grief, continued: “Calm down, dear, calm down, calm down. Do you remember me? Do you remember? You are my one and only love. Calm down, I'm with you. Think of me and I will be with you, because you and I have only loved each other for a moment, but forever. Do you remember me? Do you remember? .. Here I feel your tears. Calm down. It’s so sweet for me to sleep...” Vera, all in tears, said: “No, no, he has forgiven me now. Everything is fine".

Slide 14

"A great love that repeats itself once in a thousand years"

"Garnet bracelet"

Kuprin wrote about the real prototypes of his work: “Now I’m busy numbering the Garnet Bracelet, this is the sad story of a little telegraph official P.P. Zholtikov, who was so hopelessly in love with Lyubimov’s wife.”

Faithful to the theme of all-consuming love, it was Kuprin who in the tenth years acted as a defender of this feeling. But for this he had to create an unusual story.


To begin with, let's take a poem by the poet Igor Northerner

"It was by the sea"

and find

points of contact and main differences between this work and Kuprin's story.


minionette poem

It was by the sea, where openwork foam,

Where the city crew is rare...

The queen played - in the tower of the castle - Chopin,

And, listening to Chopin, fell in love with her page.

Everything was very simple, everything was very nice:

The queen asked to cut the pomegranate,

And she gave half, and exhausted the page,

And the page fell in love, all in the motives of sonatas.

And then gave up, gave up thunderously,

Until sunrise, the mistress slept like a slave ...

It was by the sea, where the wave is turquoise,

Where is the openwork foam and the sonata of the page.

February 1910


What we were able to discover.

Where does the minion poem take place?

Where does the Pomegranate Bracelet take place?

From what social circle are the heroes of the poem and the story?

From what circle is the page? Is he equal to the queen?

From which circle of yolks?

Is he equal in status to Princess Vera?

How did the heroines of the works react to love?

In which of the works, in your opinion, is the real truth?

Igor Severyanin

(Igor Vasilyevich Lotarev)

Both works of the same year - 1910



Scenery

The beginning of the story is filled with stormy gusts of wind, a hurricane suddenly swooping in from the steppe, but suddenly everything calms down. Thus, the passion that suddenly grips a person subsides and can take the form of an even and unclouded feeling. By September 17, clear and warm days had come. The coldish 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. “Princess Vera, whose former passionate love for her husband had long since turned into a feeling of lasting, faithful, true friendship, tried with all her might to help the prince refrain from complete ruin.”


The image of Princess Vera. Portrait, family, husband, interests. Can you call a humanly happy life of the book. Faith?

The appearance of Vera resembles the cold marble of a sculpture. Nothing passionately attracts her in this life, perhaps that is why the brightness of her being is enslaved by everyday life. Vera could not be imbued with a sense of beauty to the world around her. She was not a natural romantic. Her life flowed slowly, measuredly, quietly, and, it would seem, satisfied the principles of life, without going beyond them. Vera was childless and dreamed of children.


Anna Nikolaevna. Give her a description. Why do you think she didn't become the heroine of the story? ?

name day

The day of the name day did not portend anything special for her. She received a gift from her sister. The author with a few strokes drew an elegant trinket, (read) given to Vera. The item is tastefully done. It is felt that in this world - the world of aristocrats - they know a lot about beautiful things.


Zheltkov's letter and his gift

In contrast to this gift, the garnet bracelet seems vulgar and tasteless. (Read) But the letter that is attached to this gift says that the bracelet has the ability to endow the one to whom it belongs with the gift of foresight.

"Just like blood!" - Vera, already endowed with this gift, thought with unexpected anxiety. So in the story "Olesya" the heroine predicted the unfortunate fate of their love with Ivan Timofeevich.


Album of Vasily Lvovich

Zheltkov's letter is not vulgar, but after receiving the gift, Vera goes to the guests, and there her husband amuses the audience with very witty entries in the album, united by one theme - a mockery of strong love. Gets from him and a certain Pe Pe Zhe - this is how Prince Vasily calls the mysterious admirer of his wife, about whom he is aware.

The prince simply cannot believe that a person from such a low circle - a telegraph operator - is capable of an impeccable chivalrous feeling.


M. D. Skobelev

The image of General Anosov

He utters the words that Vera wanted and was afraid to hear.

Find these words


Especially in this story, A. I. Kuprin singled out the figure of the old general Anosov, who is sure that high love exists, but it "... must be a tragedy, the greatest secret in the world," which knows no compromises.

Passionate love either quickly burns out and sobering up comes, as in the unsuccessful marriage of General Anosov, or passes "into a feeling of lasting, faithful, true friendship" to her husband, as with Princess Vera.

And so the old general doubted whether this was love: “Love is disinterested, selfless, not waiting for a reward? The one about which it is said -

"strong as death."


The stories told by General Anosov are all about strong, sometimes crazy love. They are given even more strength by the fact that Anosov was a man about whom the legendary Skobelev said: "I know one officer who is much braver than me - this is Major Anosov." Life, death and love - the main themes of art are intertwined in Anosov's stories. (Find those stories)


Belonging to a higher circle forces Vera's relatives to take measures against possible compromise.

The brother and husband of the princess find her mysterious follower, a young employee Zheltkov. At the beginning of an unpleasant visit, he becomes embarrassed. Confused. But suddenly, after a few words of Prince Tuganovsky, Zheltkov changes.

What are these words? What happened to him?



The final part of the story is permeated with the high symbolism of knightly service to the Beautiful Lady, it may recall the famous poem by A. S. Pushkin “There once was a poor knight in the world”.

The author's humanistic position lies, first of all, in opposing noble human feelings to banality. Kuprin shows that the nobility of feelings is not given to a person from birth, selflessness is the same rarest phenomenon among people as a green pomegranate among red ones.