The Queen of Spades (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Alexander Pushkin
- First Published: 1834
- Type of Work: Novella
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: The 1830’s
- Setting: St. Petersburg
- Genres: Psychological fiction, Short fiction
- Subjects: Nineteenth century, Poverty or poor people, Obsession, Punishment, Revenge, Greed, Ethics, Fate or fatalism, Russia or Russian people
- Locales: St. Petersburg, Russia
Characters Discussed
Hermann, a Russian officer of German descent. A prudent, cautious man, Hermann lives frugally and modestly on his salary as an engineer. Although passionate by nature and a gambler at heart, Hermann controls his emotions. He never plays cards himself for fear of risking the essentials in life, yet he follows the card games of his friends with feverish excitement. When he learns that the Countess, Anna Fedotovna, possesses the secret of playing three winning cards in succession, his imagination is inflamed, and he coldly calculates a plan to obtain the...
[The entire page is 704 words long]
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