The theme of love in the story of A. I. Kuprin "Garnet bracelet"
("The disease of love is incurable ...")
Love ... is stronger than death and fear of death. Only by her, only by love does life hold and move.
I.S. Turgenev.
Love ... The word denoting the most quivering, tender, romantic and inspired feeling inherent in a person. However, people often confuse love with falling in love. The real feeling takes possession of the entire human being, sets in motion all his forces, inspires the most incredible actions, evokes the best motives, excites the creative imagination. But love is not always a joy, a mutual feeling, happiness given to two. It is also the disappointment of unrequited love. A person cannot stop loving at will.
Every great artist has devoted many pages to this "eternal" theme. A.I. Kuprin did not pass it by either. Throughout his career, the writer showed great interest in everything beautiful, strong, sincere and natural. He also attributed love to the great joys of life. His stories and stories "Olesya", "Shulamith", "Pomegranate Bracelet" tell about ideal love, pure, boundless, beautiful and powerful.
In Russian literature, perhaps, there is no more powerful work on the emotional impact on the reader than "Pomegranate Bracelet". Kuprin touches the topic of love chastely, reverently and at the same time nervously. Otherwise, you can't touch her.
Sometimes it seems that everything is said about love in world literature. Is it possible to talk about love after "Tristan and Isolde", after the sonnets of Petrarch and "Romeo and Juliet" by Shakespeare, after Pushkin's poem "For the shores of the distant fatherland", Lermontov's "Do not laugh at my prophetic melancholy", after "Anna Karenina" by Tolstoy and Chekhov's "Ladies with the Dog"? But love has thousands of aspects, and each of them has its own light, its own joy, its own happiness, its own sorrow and pain, and its own fragrance.
The story "Garnet Bracelet" is one of the saddest love stories. Kuprin admitted that he cried over the manuscript. And if the work makes the author and the reader cry, then this speaks of the deep vitality of what was created by the writer and of his great talent. Kuprin has many works about love, about the expectation of love, about its touching outcomes, about its poetry, longing and eternal youth. He blessed love always and everywhere. The theme of the story "Garnet Bracelet" is love to self-abasement, to self-denial. But it is interesting that love strikes the most ordinary person - the clerical official Zheltkov. Such love, it seems to me, was bestowed on him from above as a reward for a joyless existence. The hero of the story is no longer young, and his love for Princess Vera Sheina gave meaning to his life, filled it with inspiration and joy. This love was meaning and happiness only for Zheltkov. Princess Vera considered him a madman. She did not know his last name and had never seen this man. He only sent her greeting cards and wrote letters signed by G. S. Zh.
But one day, on the princess's name-day, Zheltkov decided on impudence: he sent her an antique bracelet with beautiful pomegranates as a gift. Fearing that her name might be compromised, Vera's brother insists on returning the bracelet to the owner, and her husband and Vera agree.
In a fit of nervous excitement, Zheltkov confesses to Prince Shein his love for his wife. This recognition touches to the depths of my soul: “I know that I can never stop loving her. What would you do to stop this feeling? Send me to another city? All the same, and there I will love Vera Nikolaevna as well as here. Imprison me? But even there I will find a way to let her know about my existence. There is only one thing left - death ... ”Over the years, love has become a disease, an incurable disease. She absorbed all of his essence without a trace. Zheltkov lived only with this love. Even if Princess Vera did not know him, even if he could not reveal his feelings to her, could not possess her ... This is not the main thing. The main thing is that he loved her with a sublime, platonic, pure love. It was enough for him just to see her sometimes and to know that she was doing well.
The last words of love for the one that had been the meaning of his life for many years, Zheltkov wrote in his dying letter. It is impossible to read this letter without heavy emotional excitement, in which the refrain sounds hysterically and amazingly: "Hallowed be thy name!" The story is given special strength by the fact that love appears in it as an unexpected gift of fate, poeticized and illuminating life. Lyubov Zheltkova is like a ray of light in the midst of everyday life, in the midst of a sober reality and a well-established way of life. There is no cure for such love, it is incurable. Only death can serve as deliverance. This love is closed in one person and carries a destructive force. "It so happened that I am not interested in anything in life: neither politics, nor science, nor philosophy, nor worries about the future happiness of people," Zheltkov writes in a letter, "for me, all life is in you." This feeling displaces all other thoughts from the consciousness of the hero.
The autumn landscape, the silent sea, empty summer cottages, the herbaceous smell of the last flowers give a special strength and bitterness to the narration.
According to Kuprin, love is passion, it is a strong and real feeling that elevates a person, awakens the best qualities of his soul; it is truthfulness and honesty in a relationship. The writer put his thoughts about love into the mouth of General Anosov: “Love must be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world. No life comforts, calculations and compromises should concern her. "
It seems to me that today it is almost impossible to meet such love. Lyubov Zheltkova is a romantic worship of a woman, a knightly service to her. Princess Vera realized that true love, which is given to a person only once in a lifetime and which every woman dreams of, passed her by.
Love always occupies a special place in the life of every person. Poets and writers celebrate this feeling. After all, it is precisely this that allows you to feel the joy of being, to raise a person above circumstances and obstacles, even if love is unrequited. AI Kuprin is no exception. His story "Garnet Bracelet" is a masterpiece of the world literary heritage.
An unusual story on a common theme
The theme of love in the work "Garnet Bracelet" takes the main place. The story reveals the most secret corners of the human soul, which is why it is loved by readers of various age groups. In the work, the author shows what a person is really capable of for the sake of true love. Each reader hopes that he will be able to feel in the same way as the protagonist of this story. The theme of love in the work "Pomegranate Bracelet" is, first of all, the theme of the relationship between the sexes, dangerous and controversial for any writer. After all, it is very difficult to avoid the banality, describing what has been said a thousand times already. However, the writer manages to touch even the most sophisticated reader with his story.
Impossibility of happiness
Kuprin, in his story, talks about a beautiful and unrequited love - this should definitely be mentioned when analyzing the work "Pomegranate Bracelet". The theme of love in the story takes a central place, because its main character, Zheltkov, experiences unrequited feelings. He loves Vera, but he cannot be with her, because she is completely indifferent to him. In addition, all circumstances are against their being together. First, they occupy different positions on the social ladder. Yolkov is poor, he is a representative of a completely different class. Secondly, Vera is bound by the knot. She would never agree to cheat on her spouse, because she is attached to him with all her soul. And these are just two reasons why Zheltkov cannot be with Vera.
Christian feelings
With such hopelessness, one can hardly believe in anything. However, the main character does not lose hope. His love was absolutely phenomenal, he could only give, demanding nothing in return. The theme of love in "Pomegranate Bracelet" is at the center of the storyline. And the feelings that Zheltkov has for the Faith have a tinge of sacrifice inherent in Christianity. After all, the main character did not rebel, he resigned himself to his position. He also did not expect a reward for his patience in the form of a response. His love had no selfish motives. Zheltkov managed to deny himself, putting his feelings for his beloved in the first place.
Caring for your beloved
In this case, the main character turns out to be honest in relation to Vera and her husband. He acknowledges the sinfulness of his passion. Not once in all the years that he loved Vera, Zheltkov did not cross the threshold of her house with an offer and did not compromise the woman in any way. That is, he cared about her personal happiness and well-being more than about himself, and this is true self-denial.
The greatness of those feelings that Zheltkov experienced lies in the fact that he was able to let go of Vera for the sake of her happiness. And he did it at the cost of his own life. He knew what he would do to himself after spending the state money, but he took this step deliberately. And at the same time, the main character did not give Vera a single reason to believe that she could be guilty of anything. An official commits suicide because of a crime he has committed.
In those days, the desperate took their own lives so that their obligations were not passed on to loved ones. And therefore, Zheltkov's act seemed logical and had nothing to do with Vera. This fact testifies to the unusual trepidation of the feeling that Zheltkov had for her. This is the rarest treasure of the human soul. The official proved that love can be stronger than death itself.
A turning point
In an essay based on the piece “Garnet Bracelet. The theme of love ”, you can indicate what the plot of the story consisted. The main character - Vera - is the wife of the prince. She constantly receives letters from a secret admirer. However, one day instead of letters comes a rather expensive gift - a garnet bracelet. The theme of love in Kuprin's work originates here. Vera regarded such a gift as compromising and told everything to her husband and brother, who easily found who had sent it.
It turned out to be a modest civil servant Georgy Zheltkov. He accidentally saw Vera and fell in love with her with all his nature. At the same time, Zheltkov was quite pleased with the fact that love is unrequited. The prince appears to him, after which the official feels that he has let Vera down, because he has compromised her with an expensive garnet bracelet. The theme of tragic love in the work sounds like a leitmotif. Zheltkov asked Vera for forgiveness in a letter, asked her to listen to Beethoven's sonata and committed suicide - he shot himself.
Tragedy of Faith
This story interested Vera, she asked her husband for permission to visit the apartment of the deceased. In the analysis of Kuprin's "Garnet Bracelet", the theme of love should be considered in detail. The student should point out that it was in Zheltkov's apartment that she felt all those feelings that she had never experienced during all 8 years while Zheltkov loved her. At home, listening to that very sonata, she realized that Zheltkov could make her happy.
Hero skins
You can also briefly describe the images of the heroes in the analysis of the work "Garnet Bracelet". The theme of love, chosen by Kuprin, helped him create such characters that reflect the social realities of not only their era. Their roles apply to all of humanity. The image of the official Zheltkov is a confirmation of this. He is not rich, he has no special merits. Zheltkov is a completely modest person. He does not demand anything in return for his feelings.
Faith is a woman who is used to obeying the rules of society. Of course, she does not give up love, but she also does not consider it a vital necessity. After all, she has a spouse who can give her everything she needs, so she does not need feelings. But this happens only until the moment when she learns about the death of Zheltkov. Love in Kuprin's work symbolizes the nobility of the human soul. Neither Prince Shein nor Vera herself can boast of this feeling. Love was the highest manifestation of Zheltkov's soul. Without demanding anything, he knew how to enjoy the magnificence of his experiences.
Morality the reader can bear
It should also be said that the theme of love in the work "Garnet Bracelet" was not chosen by Kuprin by chance. The reader can draw the following conclusion: in a world where comfort and daily obligations come to the fore, in no case should you take your loved one for granted. We need to value him as much as ourselves, which is what the main character of the story of Zheltkov teaches us.
In any final essay, first of all, arguments from the literature are appreciated, which show the degree of the author's reading. It is in the main part of the work that he shows his abilities: literacy, prudence, erudition, the ability to beautifully express his thoughts. Therefore, when preparing, it is important to focus on what works will be needed to reveal the topics, and what episodes will help to support the thesis. This article contains 10 arguments on the direction of "Loyalty and betrayal", which will be useful in the process of writing training essays, and maybe on the exam itself.
- In A. N. Ostrovsky's drama The Thunderstorm, the heroine is faced with a difficult choice between loyalty to the ingrained traditions of the city of Kalinov, where stupidity and narrowness of views prevail, and freedom of feeling and love. Treason is the highest manifestation of freedom for Katerina, the rebellion of her soul, in which love overcomes conventions and prejudices, ceases to be sinful, becoming the only salvation from a depressing existence in the "dark kingdom".
- “Everything passes, but not everything is forgotten” - and true fidelity knows no time limits. In the story of I.A. Bunin "Dark Alleys" the heroine carries love through the years, leaving in her life, full of everyday life, a place for the first and most important feeling. Having met her lover who once left her, who has grown old and has become completely a stranger, she cannot get rid of her bitterness. But a woman cannot forgive a long-standing insult, since the price for loyalty to a failed love turns out to be too high.
- In the novel by L.N. Tolstoy's War and Peace, the paths of loyalty and betrayal are often intertwined. Staying faithful for Natasha Rostova, due to her young age and inexperience, turned out to be a difficult task. Her betrayal to Andrei is of an accidental nature and is seen rather as a mistake of a girl inexperienced in love affairs, weak, subject to other people's influence, rather than as betrayal and frivolity. Caring for the wounded Bolkonsky, Natasha proves the sincerity of her feelings, showing spiritual maturity. But Helen Kuragina remains true only to her own interests. The primitiveness of feelings and the emptiness of the soul make it alien to true love, leaving room only for numerous betrayals.
- Fidelity to love pushes a person to a feat, it can also be destructive. In the story of A.I. Kuprin's "Garnet Bracelet" unrequited love becomes the meaning of the life of a petty official Zheltkov, who remains true to his high feeling for a married woman who can never reciprocate. He does not defile the beloved with the demands of reciprocal feelings. Tormented and suffering, he blesses Faith for a happy future, does not allow vulgarity and routine to penetrate the fragile world of love. His loyalty is a tragic doom to death.
- In the novel by A.S. Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin" loyalty becomes one of the central themes. Fate constantly forces the heroes to make decisions on which their personal happiness depends. Eugene turns out to be weak in his choice, gives in to circumstances, for the sake of his own vanity betraying friendship and himself. He is unable to take responsibility not only for a loved one, but also for his own actions. Tatiana, on the other hand, remains faithful to duty, sacrificing her interests. This renunciation is the highest manifestation of strength of character, the struggle for inner purity, in which a sense of duty overcomes love.
- The strength and depth of human nature is known in love and fidelity. In the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" heroes, tormented by the severity of the crimes, are not able to find consolation in the external world. They see each other as a reflection of their own sins, and the desire to atone for them, to find new life meanings and guidelines, becomes a common goal for them. Each of them wants to hear the words of forgiveness from the other, each is looking for salvation from the pangs of conscience. Sonya Marmeladova shows courage, going after Raskolnikov to Siberia, and with her loyalty transforms Rodion, resurrected by her love.
- In the novel by I.A. Goncharov's "Oblomov" the theme of loyalty is reflected in the relationship of several characters at once. The love of Olga Ilyinskaya and Ilya Oblomov is a clash of two worlds, beautiful in their romance and spirituality, but unable to coexist in harmony. Even in love, Olga is true to her ideas about the ideal lover, whom she is trying to create from the sleepy, inactive Oblomov. She makes attempts to transform the hero who lives in a cramped, artificially created world by him. Agafya Pshenitsyna, on the contrary, is trying to protect Oblomov's sleeping soul from shocks, maintaining his comfortable existence in the kingdom of carefree family happiness and comfort. She is infinitely loyal to him, and in blind obedience to the whims of her husband, becomes an indirect cause of his death. Loyal to Oblomov and servant Zakhar, for whom the master is the embodiment of true heroism. Even after the death of Ilya Ilyich, a devoted servant looks after his grave.
- Loyalty is, first of all, awareness of responsibility, renunciation of one's own interests and disinterested appeal to another person. In the story of V.G. Rasputina's "French Lessons", a district school teacher Lidia Mikhailovna faces a difficult moral choice: to help a starving student using a non-pedagogical method, or to remain indifferent to the grief of a child who needs her help. The question of professional ethics ceases to be dominant here, giving way to compassion and tenderness for a talented boy. Fidelity to human duty becomes for her above the conventional notions of morality.
- Loyalty and betrayal are opposite phenomena, mutually exclusive of each other. But, one way or another, these are two different sides of the same choice, morally complex and not always unambiguous.
In MA Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita, the characters choose between good and evil, duty and conscience. They are faithful to their choice to the end, even the one that brings them a lot of mental suffering. Margarita leaves her husband, actually committing a betrayal, but, in her devotion to the Master, she is ready for the most desperate step - to make a deal with evil spirits. Her loyalty to love justifies sins, because Margarita remains pure before herself and the person she wants to save. - In the novel by MA Sholokhov "Quiet Don", the themes of loyalty and betrayal are revealed in the relationship of several characters at once. Love ties closely connect the characters with each other, creating ambiguity in situations in which it is difficult to find happiness. Fidelity here is diverse: Aksinya's passionate devotion is different from Natalya's quiet, unrequited tenderness. In a blinding craving for Grigory, Aksinya betrays Stepan, while Natalya remains faithful to her husband to the end, forgiving dislike and indifference. Grigory Melekhov, in his search for himself, turns out to be a victim of fatal events. He is looking for the truth, in favor of which he is ready to make a choice, but the search is complicated by the vicissitudes of life that the hero cannot cope with. Gregory's emotional throwbacks, his vain willingness to be faithful to the end only to truth and duty is another tragedy of personality in the novel. Interesting? Keep it on your wall!
Composition
The theme of love in Kuprin's works (based on the story of the Garnet Bracelet) Love has thousands of aspects and each of them has its own light, its own sadness, its own happiness and its own fragrance. K. Paustovsky. Among the stories of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, the Garnet Bracelet occupies a special place. Paustovsky called it one of the most fragrant, painful and saddest stories about love.
One of the main characters, a poor shy official Zheltkov, fell in love with Princess Vera Nikolaevna Sheina, the wife of the leader of the nobility, Vasily Shein. He considered her unavailable and then did not even try to meet her. Zheltkov wrote letters to her, collected forgotten things and watched her at various exhibitions and meetings. And now, eight years after Zheltkov first saw and fell in love with Vera, he sends her a gift with a letter in which he presents a pomegranate bracelet and bows before her. I bow in my mind to the ground of the furniture you are sitting on, the parquet you walk on, the trees that you touch in passing, the servant you are talking to. Vera told her husband about this gift, and in order not to get into a ridiculous situation, they decided to return the pomegranate bracelet. Vasily Shein and his wife's brother asked Zheltkov not to send letters and gifts to Vera anymore, but they were allowed to write the last letter in which he apologizes and says goodbye to Vera. Let me be ridiculous in your eyes and in the eyes of your brother, Nikolai Nikolaevich.
As I leave, I say in ecstasy: Hallowed be thy name. Zheltkov did not have a goal in life, he was not interested in anything, he did not go to theaters, did not read books, he lived only with love for Vera. She was the only joy in life, the only consolation, the only thought. And now, when the last joy in life is taken away from him, Zheltkov commits suicide. The modest clerk Zheltkov is better and cleaner than people of the secular society, such as Vasily Shein and Nikolai. The nobility of the soul of an ordinary person, his ability to deep feelings is contrasted with the callous, soulless powers of this world.
As you know, Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, the writer was a psychologist. He transferred his observations of the human character to literature, thereby enriching and diversifying it. Reading his works, you feel a particularly subtle, deep and sensitive awareness of everything. It seems that the writer knows what you are worried about, and tries to help you, directs you on the right path. After all, the world in which we live is sometimes so polluted with lies, meanness and vulgarity that sometimes we need a charge of positive energy to resist the sucking quagmire. Who will show us the source of purity? In my opinion, Kuprin has such a talent. He, like a master grinding stone, reveals wealth in our souls that we ourselves did not know about. In his works, to reveal the characters of the heroes, he uses the technique of psychological analysis, depicting the main character of a spiritually liberated person, trying to endow him with all those wonderful qualities that we admire in people. Especially sensitivity, understanding to others and demanding, strict attitude to oneself. There are many examples of this: engineer Bobrov, Olesya, GS Zheltkov. All of them carry what we call high moral perfection. They all love unselfishly, forgetting themselves.
In the story Garnet Bracelet, Kuprin develops the idea of true love with all the strength of his skill. He doesn’t want to come to terms with the vulgar, down-to-earth views of love and marriage, drawing our attention to these issues in a rather unusual way, equalizing to the ideal feeling. Through the lips of General Anosov, he says: ... People in our time have forgotten how to love! I don't see real love. Yes, and in my time did not see. What is this Challenge Is it really not true what we feel? We have a calm, moderate happiness with the person we need. What is more According to Kuprin, Love should be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world! No life comforts, calculations and compromises should concern her. Only then can love be called a real feeling, completely true and moral.
I still cannot forget what impression Zheltkov's feelings made on me. How much he loved Vera Nikolaevna that he could commit suicide! This is crazy! Loving Princess Sheina for seven years with hopeless and polite love, he, never meeting her, speaking of his love only in letters, suddenly commits suicide! Not because Vera Nikolaevna's brother is going to turn to power, and not because his gift was returned with a garnet bracelet. (He is a symbol of deep fiery love and at the same time a terrible bloody sign of death.) And, probably, not because he squandered state money. There was simply no other way out for Zheltkov. He loved a married woman so much that he could not help but think about her for a minute, exist without remembering her smile, her look, the sound of her gait. He himself says to Vera's husband: There is only one death left ... If you want, I will accept it in whatever form you want. The terrible thing is that Vera Nikolaevna's brother and husband pushed him to this decision, who came to demand that their family be left alone. They turned out to be, as it were, indirectly responsible for his death. They had the right to demand peace, but on the part of Nikolai Nikolayevich it was unacceptable, even ridiculous, the threat to turn to power. How can the authorities forbid a person to love!
Kuprin's ideal is selfless love, self-rejected, not waiting for a reward, one for which you can give your life and endure anything. It was with this kind of love, which happens once in a thousand years, that Zheltkov loved. This was his need, the meaning of life, and he proved this: I knew no complaint, no reproach, no pain of pride, I have only one prayer before you: Hallowed be Thy name. These words, with which his soul was overwhelmed, is felt by Princess Vera in the sounds of Beethoven's immortal sonata. They cannot leave us indifferent and instill in us an unrestrained desire to strive for the same incomparably pure feeling. Its roots go back to morality and spiritual harmony in a person.
Princess Vera did not regret that this love, which every woman dreams of, passed her by. She cries because her soul is overwhelmed with admiration for lofty, almost unearthly feelings.
A person who was able to fall in love so much must have some kind of special perception of the world. Although Zheltkov was just a small official, he turned out to be above social norms and standards. People like them are elevated by rumor to the rank of saints, and a bright memory of them lives on for a long time.