The faux magical elements in Pushkin's short story "Queen of Spades" involve the countess's gambling secret and gambling. One instance occurs at the funeral of the countess. Hermann, the unlucky hero, steps forward to view her laid out in her coffin and believes he sees her open her eyes and...
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wink at him. After collapsing onto his back in shock, he eats a good meal and drinks lots of wine.
Another instance occurs that night when he is visited by a vision or a dream in which the countess declares she has been instructed to share the gambling secret with him. The secret is to play the three, the seven, then the ace and never play them again. A third instance occurs after successfully playing the three and seven. He is about to play the ace but since he is terribly nervous and anxious he pulls out not the ace but the queen of spades--and loses. As he looks in horror at the queen of spades, it seems to wink at him.
The faux magical elements in Pushkin's short story "Queen of Spades" involve the countess's gambling secret and gambling. One instance occurs at the funeral of the countess. Hermann, the unlucky hero, steps forward to view her laid out in her coffin and believes he sees her open her eyes and wink at him. After collapsing onto his back in shock, he eats a good meal and drinks lots of wine.
Another instance occurs that night when he is visited by a vision or a dream in which the countess declares she has been instructed to share the gambling secret with him. The secret is to play the three, the seven, then the ace and never play them again. A third instance occurs after successfully playing the three and seven. He is about to play the ace but since he is terribly nervous and anxious he pulls out not the ace but the queen of spades--and loses. As he looks in horror at the queen of spades, it seems to wink at him.