The story “The Garnet Bracelet,” written in 1910, occupies a significant place in the writer’s work and in Russian literature. Paustovsky called the love story of a minor official for a married princess one of the most fragrant and languid stories about love. True, eternal love, which is a rare gift, is the theme of Kuprin’s work.
In order to familiarize yourself with the plot and characters of the story, we suggest reading a summary of “The Garnet Bracelet” chapter by chapter. It will provide an opportunity to comprehend the work, comprehend the charm and ease of the writer’s language and penetrate into the idea.
Main characters
Vera Sheina- Princess, wife of the leader of the nobility Shein. She married for love, and over time, love grew into friendship and respect. She began to receive letters from the official Zheltkov, who loved her, even before her marriage.
Zheltkov- official. Unrequitedly in love with Vera for many years.
Vasily Shein- prince, provincial leader of the nobility. Loves his wife.
Other characters
Yakov Mikhailovich Anosov- general, friend of the late Prince Mirza-Bulat-Tuganovsky, father of Vera, Anna and Nikolai.
Anna Friesse- sister of Vera and Nikolai.
Nikolay Mirza-Bulat-Tuganovsky- assistant prosecutor, brother of Vera and Anna.
Jenny Reiter- friend of Princess Vera, famous pianist.
Chapter 1
In mid-August, bad weather arrived on the Black Sea coast. Most of the inhabitants of coastal resorts began to hastily move to the city, leaving their dachas. Princess Vera Sheina was forced to stay at the dacha because her town house was undergoing renovations.
Along with the first days of September, warmth came, it became sunny and clear, and Vera was very happy about the wonderful days of early autumn.
Chapter 2
On her name day, September 17, Vera Nikolaevna was expecting guests. My husband left on business in the morning and had to bring guests for dinner.
Vera was glad that the name day fell during the summer season and there was no need to have a grand reception. The Shein family was on the verge of ruin, and the prince’s position required a lot, so the spouses had to live beyond their means. Vera Nikolaevna, whose love for her husband had long been reborn into “a feeling of lasting, faithful, true friendship,” supported him as best she could, saved, and denied herself many things.
Her sister Anna Nikolaevna Friesse came to help Vera with the housework and receive guests. Dissimilar either in appearance or in character, the sisters were very attached to each other from childhood.
Chapter 3
Anna had not seen the sea for a long time, and the sisters briefly sat down on a bench above the cliff, “a sheer wall falling deep into the sea,” to admire the lovely landscape.
Remembering the gift she had prepared, Anna handed her sister a notebook in an antique binding.
Chapter 4
By evening, guests began to arrive. Among them was General Anosov, a friend of Prince Mirza-Bulat-Tuganovsky, the late father of Anna and Vera. He was very attached to his sisters, they, in turn, adored him and called him grandfather.
Chapter 5
Those gathered in the Sheins' house were entertained at the table by the owner, Prince Vasily Lvovich. He had a special gift as a storyteller: his humorous stories were always based on an event that happened to someone he knew. But in his stories he “exaggerated the colors” so fancifully, he combined truth and fiction and spoke with such a serious and business-like air that all the listeners laughed non-stop. This time his story concerned the failed marriage of his brother, Nikolai Nikolaevich.
Rising from the table, Vera involuntarily counted the guests - there were thirteen of them. And, since the princess was superstitious, she became restless.
After dinner, everyone except Vera sat down to play poker. She was about to go out onto the terrace when the maid called her. On the table in the office where both women entered, the servant laid out a small package tied with a ribbon and explained that a messenger had brought it with a request to hand it over personally to Vera Nikolaevna.
Vera found a gold bracelet and a note in the package. First she began to look at the decoration. At the center of the low-grade gold bracelet were several magnificent garnets, each about the size of a pea. Examining the stones, the birthday girl turned the bracelet, and the stones flashed like “lovely thick red living lights.” With alarm, Vera realized that these lights looked like blood.
He congratulated Vera on Angel Day and asked her not to hold a grudge against him for having dared to write letters to her and expect an answer several years ago. He asked to accept a bracelet as a gift, the stones of which belonged to his great-grandmother. From her silver bracelet, he exactly repeated the arrangement, transferred the stones to the gold one and drew Vera’s attention to the fact that no one had ever worn the bracelet. He wrote: “however, I believe that in the whole world there is not a treasure worthy of decorating you” and admitted that all that now remains in him is “only reverence, eternal admiration and slavish devotion”, the every minute desire for happiness to Faith and joy if she's happy.
Vera was wondering whether she should show the gift to her husband.
Chapter 6
The evening proceeded smoothly and lively: they played cards, talked, and listened to the singing of one of the guests. Prince Shein showed several guests a home album with his own drawings. This album was a complement to the humorous stories of Vasily Lvovich. Those looking at the album laughed so loudly and contagiously that the guests gradually moved towards them.
The last story in the drawings was called “Princess Vera and the telegraph operator in love,” and the text of the story itself, according to the prince, was still “being prepared.” Vera asked her husband: “It’s better not to,” but he either did not hear or did not pay attention to her request and began his cheerful story about how Princess Vera received passionate messages from a telegraph operator in love.
Chapter 7
After tea, several guests left, the rest sat on the terrace. General Anosov told stories from his army life, Anna and Vera listened to him with pleasure, as in childhood.
Before going to see off the old general, Vera invited her husband to read the letter she had received.
Chapter 8
On the way to the carriage waiting for the general, Anosov talked with Vera and Anna about how he had never met true love in his life. According to him, “love must be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world."
The general asked Vera what was true in the story told by her husband. And she gladly shared with him: “some madman” pursued her with his love and sent letters even before marriage. The princess also told about the parcel with the letter. In thought, the general noted that it was quite possible that Vera’s life was crossed by the “single, all-forgiving, ready for anything, modest and selfless” love that any woman dreams of.
Chapter 9
Having seen off the guests and returned to the house, Sheina joined the conversation between her brother Nikolai and Vasily Lvovich. The brother believed that the fan’s “stupidity” should be stopped immediately - the story with the bracelet and letters could ruin the family’s reputation.
After discussing what to do, it was decided that the next day Vasily Lvovich and Nikolai would find Vera’s secret admirer and, demanding to leave her alone, would return the bracelet.
Chapter 10
Shein and Mirza-Bulat-Tuganovsky, Vera’s husband and brother, paid a visit to her admirer. He turned out to be the official Zheltkov, a man of about thirty to thirty-five.
Nikolai immediately explained to him the reason for coming - with his gift he had crossed the line of patience of Vera’s loved ones. Zheltkov immediately agreed that he was to blame for the persecution of the princess.
Turning to the prince, Zheltkov started talking about the fact that he loves his wife and feels that he can never stop loving her, and all that remains for him is death, which he will accept “in any form.” Before speaking further, Zheltkov asked permission to leave for a few minutes to call Vera.
During the official’s absence, in response to Nikolai’s reproaches that the prince had “gone limp” and felt sorry for his wife’s admirer, Vasily Lvovich explained to his brother-in-law how he felt. “This person is not capable of deceiving and knowingly lying. Is he to blame for love and is it really possible to control such a feeling as love - a feeling that has not yet found an interpreter.” The prince not only felt sorry for this man, he realized that he had witnessed “some kind of enormous tragedy of the soul.”
Returning, Zheltkov asked permission to write his last letter to Vera and promised that visitors would not hear or see him again. At Vera Nikolaevna’s request, he stops “this story” “as soon as possible.”
In the evening, the prince conveyed to his wife the details of his visit to Zheltkov. She was not surprised by what she heard, but was slightly worried: the princess felt that “this man would kill himself.”
Chapter 11
The next morning, Vera learned from the newspapers that due to the waste of public money, the official Zheltkov committed suicide. All day Sheina thought about the “unknown man” whom she never had to see, not understanding why she foresaw the tragic outcome of his life. She also remembered Anosov’s words about true love, perhaps meeting her on the way.
The postman brought Zheltkov’s farewell letter. He admitted that he regards his love for Vera as a great happiness, that his whole life lies only in the princess. He asked to forgive him for having “cut into Vera’s life like an inconvenient wedge”, thanked her simply for the fact that she lived in the world, and said goodbye forever. “I tested myself - this is not a disease, not a manic idea - this is love with which God wanted to reward me for something. As I leave, I say in delight: “Hallowed be Thy name,” he wrote.
After reading the message, Vera told her husband that she would like to go and see the man who loved her. The prince supported this decision.
Chapter 12
Vera found an apartment that Zheltkov was renting. The landlady came out to meet her and they started talking. At the request of the princess, the woman told about Zheltkov’s last days, then Vera went into the room where he was lying. The expression on the face of the deceased was so peaceful, as if this man “before parting with life had learned some deep and sweet secret that resolved his entire human life.”
At parting, the owner of the apartment told Vera that if he suddenly died and a woman came to say goodbye to him, Zheltkov asked him to tell her that Beethoven’s best work - he wrote down its title - “L. van Beethoven. Son. No. 2, op. 2. Largo Appassionato.”
Vera began to cry, explaining her tears with the painful “impression of death.”
Chapter 13
Vera Nikolaevna returned home late in the evening. Only Jenny Reiter was waiting for her at home, and the princess rushed to her friend asking her to play something. Having no doubt that the pianist would perform “the very passage from the Second Sonata that this dead man with the funny name Zheltkov asked for,” the princess recognized the music from the first chords. Vera’s soul seemed to be divided into two parts: at the same time she was thinking about the love that was repeated once every thousand years, which had passed by, and about why she should listen to this particular work.
“Words were forming in her mind. They so coincided in her thoughts with the music that they were as if they were verses that ended with the words: “Hallowed be Thy name.” These words were about great love. Vera cried about the feeling that had passed by, and the music excited and calmed her at the same time. When the sounds of the sonata died down, the princess calmed down.
When Zhenni asked why she was crying, Vera Nikolaevna answered only with a phrase that she could understand: “He has forgiven me now. Everything is fine" .
Conclusion
Telling the story of the hero’s sincere and pure, but unrequited love for a married woman, Kuprin pushes the reader to think about what place a feeling occupies in a person’s life, what it gives the right to, and how the inner world of someone who has the gift of love changes.
You can begin your acquaintance with Kuprin’s work with a brief retelling of “The Garnet Bracelet.” And then, already knowing the storyline, having an idea about the characters, with pleasure immerse yourself in the rest of the writer’s story about the amazing world of true love.
Story test
Retelling rating
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Sections: Literature
Lesson type: lesson on learning new material.
Type of lesson: lesson-conversation.
The purpose of the lesson: to identify the originality of the solution to the love theme in the work of A.I. Kuprina.
Educational:
- deepen students’ understanding of the artistic originality of A. I. Kuprin’s prose;
- introduce students to the history of the creation of the story “The Garnet Bracelet”;
- based on direct impressions from reading the story, conduct a comprehensive analysis of the work, considering the problems of the story, its plot and compositional features, and the originality of artistic images.
Educational:
- improve students’ skills in analyzing a work of art, developing the ability to identify the main, significant moments in the development of an action, determine their role in revealing the theme and idea of the work, and draw independent conclusions; develop literary text research skills; comparative analysis, detailed answers to questions; enrichment of students' vocabulary;
- to form in students their own attitude to the events and characters of the story, thereby promoting the development of an active life position and the ability to defend their own point of view.
Educational:
- to cultivate the moral qualities of students using the example of the heroes of the story (inner beauty, nobility);
- form aesthetic perception using various types of art: literature, music, fine arts, cinema;
- cultivate an attentive attitude to the word.
Preparatory stage: students are divided into 4 groups.
Progress of the lesson
I. Organizational moment. Explanation of the goals and objectives of the lesson.
II. Introductory speech by the teacher.
“Kuprin has one cherished theme. He touches it chastely, reverently and nervously. Otherwise, you can’t touch it. This is the theme of love...”
“The great power of love!” – this is exactly the topic of our lesson. The theme of love has always been, is and will be one of the most pressing topics for all humanity.
One of the most fragrant and yearning stories about love - and the saddest - is Kuprin's "Garnet Bracelet"
“Love has thousands of stories, and each of them has its own light, its own sadness, its own happiness and its own fragrance.”
(K.G. Paustovsky)
One of these “plots” will be the subject of our attention today.
We will focus on the analysis of A.I. Kuprin’s story “The Garnet Bracelet”.
III. Analysis of Kuprin’s story “Garnet Bracelet”.
Teacher:
V. Lvov-Rogachevsky: “Kuprin’s work reflected life in all its endless diversity, not so much life as a whole, but in fragments, in a whirlwind of accidents... He has the greed of a collector, only he collects not rare coins, but rare incidents of life.” Familiarity with the history of the creation of this work will allow us to verify the authenticity of V. Lvov-Rogachevsky’s words.
1.Student’s message “The history of the creation of A. I. Kuprin’s story”(student’s individual homework).
Teacher:
2. “Garnet Bracelet” has an unusual creative history. Work on the story began in the fall of 1910 in Odessa. At this time, Kuprin often visited the family of the Odessa doctor L. Ya. Meisels and listened to Beethoven’s Second Sonata performed by his wife. The musical work captivated Alexander Ivanovich so much that work on the story began with him writing down the epigraph. “L. van Beethoven. 2 Son. (op. 2, no. 2). Largo Appassionato.” Beethoven's Sonata "Appassionata", one of the most intense, languid, passionate creations of human genius in music, awakened Kuprin to literary creativity. The sounds of the sonata were combined in his imagination with the story of the bright love that he witnessed.
(Listen to the fragment “Appassionata”)
3. Analytical conversation of a comparative nature.
How did Kuprin artistically transform the real story he heard? (Kuprin embodied in his creation the ideal of beautiful, omnipotent, but not mutual love, showed that a “little man” is capable of a great, all-encompassing feeling. Kuprin ended the story with the death of the hero, which made Vera Nikolaevna think about love, about feeling, made her worry , sympathize, which she has not done before.)
Why do you think Kuprin artistically transformed the real story?
Do you think the writer achieved his intention?
4. Quiz on the work.
Before we directly move on to discussing the story, revealing the main themes, and discussing the characters’ characters, we will conduct a special quiz. Her questions will help you remember the details of the work, and your answers will show how carefully you read the story “The Garnet Bracelet” and how well you remember its contents:
1. What time of year does the story take place? (Autumn, September.)
2. Where do the events of the story take place? (Black Sea city.)
3. What is the name of the main character? (Princess Vera Sheina.)
4. Princess Sheina’s surname before marriage? (Mirza-Bulat-Tuganovskaya.)
5. Who was Vera Sheina’s ancestor? (Tamerlane.)
6. What is the name of Vera’s sister? (Anna Friesse.)
7. What is the name of Princess Vera’s husband? (Prince Vasily Lvovich.)
8. His position? (Leader of the nobility.)
9. What date was the name day of Princess Vera Sheina? (September 17.)
10. What did her husband give her? (Earrings made of pear-shaped pearls.)
11. What did your sister give Vera? (A notebook in an “amazing binding.”)
12. What was the name of the famous pianist, Vera’s friend? (Zhenya Reiter.)
13. Who gave the bracelet with garnets? (Zheltkov.)
14. What does faith compare deep red garnets to? (Exactly blood.)
15. Who is Zheltkov? (A telegraph operator in love with faith.)
16. What does his owner call Zheltkov? (“Pan Ezhiy.”)
17. Zheltkov’s real name? (George.)
18. About whom Kuprin wrote: “...took after her mother, a beautiful Englishwoman, with her tall flexible figure, gentle but cold and proud face, beautiful, although rather large hands, and that charming sloping shoulders that can be seen in ancient miniatures...” (about Princess Vera).
19. What was the name of the husband of Anna, Vera’s sister? (Gustav Ivanovich.)
20. Whose portrait is this? “She was half a head shorter, somewhat broad in the shoulders, lively and frivolous, a mocker. Her face was of a very Mongolian type with quite noticeable cheekbones, with narrow eyes... captivating with some elusive and incomprehensible charm...” (Anna)
21. About whom Kuprin writes: “... 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 years old”? (about Zheltkov.)
22. What kind of music is heard in the work? (Beethoven's Second Sonata.)
23. Whose portrait is this? “A fat, tall, silvery old man climbed heavily from the footrest... He had a large, rough, red face with a fleshy nose and with that good-natured, stately, slightly contemptuous expression in his narrowed eyes... which is characteristic of courageous and simple people...” ( General Anosov).
24. About whom does the author write: “..she hugged the acacia trunk, pressed herself against it and cried...”? (about Vera Sheina.)
25. Who owns the following words: “Where is love?” Is love unselfish, selfless, not waiting for reward? The one about whom it is said “strong as death”?
5. Work in groups.
What is a group? This is a song, a song that is only sung in the choir.
Where eyes and hands are always together, the truth is born in a creative dispute!
Exercise 1.
Let's talk about what you understand love to be and what it can be.
First group: What positive feelings can LOVE cause?
(Love is a sublime feeling, beautiful, extraordinary, love is capable of conquering everything, capable of raising a person to the pinnacle of bliss, making a person work on himself. It is impossible to live without love)
Second group: What negative feelings can LOVE cause?
(love is a feeling that brings pain, disappointment, self-doubt, love can destroy a person, force him to commit madness, love throws a person into the abyss of grief. It is better to live without love.)
Third group: Choose epithets for the word LOVE .
(Love is kind, soft, mutual, creative, joyful, happy, tragic, fatal, painful, unrequited, destructive.)
Fourth group: Working with dictionaries
Let's turn to explanatory dictionaries of the Russian language and see what definition linguists give to “LOVE”.
Love is:
Love is an intimate and deep feeling, a desire for another person, a human community or an idea. (Large encyclopedic dictionary.)
Love is 1) deep emotional attraction, a strong heartfelt feeling; 2) a feeling of deep affection, selfless and sincere affection; 3) a constant, strong inclination, passion for something; 4) the object of love (he or she whom someone loves, to whom he feels attraction, affection); 5) addiction, taste for something. (Explanatory dictionary of S.I. Ozhegov.)
Love – 1) a feeling of affection based on common interests, ideals, and the willingness to devote one’s strength to a common cause. 2) An inclination, disposition, or attraction to something. (Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language, edited by D.N. Ushakov.)
Teacher:
We see that in each definition the words sound: deep feeling; strong heart feeling; feeling of affection; inclination, disposition.
Kuprin himself spoke about love like this: “a feeling that has not yet found an interpretation.”
But not a single definition has an exact indication of whether love is happiness or misfortune.
How can this be determined? Let us turn to the story by A.I. Kuprin “Garnet Bracelet” and try to find out
Task 2.
First group: How does the princess appear to the readers in the first chapters of the story? (Coldness, indifference, royal calm, a sense of superiority.)
Second group: Is she capable of ardent, passionate love? (In her youth and early youth, the princess was capable of a strong, all-consuming feeling, but now she has changed, and “the former passionate love for her husband has long turned into a feeling of lasting, faithful, true friendship.”)
Third group: What role does Beethoven’s music play in the work? (The music is in amazing harmony with the experiences of Vera, in whose soul the words ring: “Hallowed be Thy name.” In these gentle sounds there is life, which “humblely and joyfully doomed itself to torment, suffering and death.” Zheltkov’s last memories are covered with sweet sadness, moments of happiness become eternity for him) Beethoven’s Sonata No. 2 is “an exceptional, unique work of depth.”)
Fourth group : “Love” and “infatuation”: how do these concepts differ?
Task 3.
The person who fell in love with Vera Nikolaevna so much was a simple man, an official of the control chamber, G.S. Zheltkov.
First group: How do we find out about Zheltkov’s love? Who's talking about her? (We learn about Zheltkov’s love for the first time from the stories of Prince Shein. For the prince, truth is intertwined with fiction. For him, this is a funny story. The image of Zheltkov in the prince’s stories undergoes changes: a telegraph operator - dresses up as a chimney sweep - becomes a dishwasher - turns into a monk - dies tragically, leaving a will after death.)
Second group: How was Zheltkov’s gift different from all the others? Why did Vera Nikolaevna feel anxious? (The garnet bracelet is a symbol of love, reverent, endless and hopeless, and tragedy in the fate of the hero.)
Third group: Love without reciprocity: happiness or tragedy? (Zheltkov admits that he “cut an uncomfortable wedge” into Vera’s life and is eternally grateful to her just for the fact that she exists. His love is not a disease, not a manic idea, but a reward sent by God. His tragedy is hopeless, he is a dead man.)
Fourth group: How does Zheltkov appear in his suicide letter?
Task 4.
First group: When does the conversation about true love come up for the first time? (In a conversation with Anosov. He believes that in his time people forgot how to love.)
Second group: To love and be loved? What's better?
Third group: What is the story of General Anosov? Why is it given in such detail?
Anosov knows what love is at first sight. But his wife left him. “People in our time have forgotten how to love,” says the general. “I don’t see real love. And I didn’t see it in my time.” Anosov talks about why people get married. Women have “the desire to be a housewife, the head of the house, independent... In addition, the need for motherhood, and to start building your own nest.” Men have other motives - “tiredness from a single life, from disorder in the rooms... from debts, from unceremonious comrades... You feel that living as a family is more profitable, healthier and more economical... you think: when the kids come, - I I’ll die, but a part of me will still remain in the world... there are sometimes thoughts about a dowry.” As we see, the motives for marriage of people who lived at the beginning of the 20th century differ little from the aspirations of our contemporaries... Through the mouth of his hero, Kuprin exclaims: “Where is love? Selfless, selfless love, not waiting for reward? about which it is said - “strong as death. Every woman dreams of love, “united, forgiving, ready for everything, modest and selfless.” This is the ideal of love according to Kuprin. But achieving the ideal is difficult, almost impossible. They take revenge on themselves and others.
Fourth group: Does ideal love exist?
Old General Anosov, who is sure that high love exists, but it “... must be a tragedy, the greatest secret in the world,” without compromise.
Kuprin: true love is the basis of everything earthly. It should not be isolated, undivided, it should be based on high sincere feelings, strive for the ideal. Love is stronger than death, it elevates a person.
What is the fate of the garnet bracelet? (The unhappy lover asked to hang a bracelet - a symbol of holy love - on the icon.)
6. Working with the statements of the characters in the story.
The heroes of the story express their opinions about love. Here are the statements of the heroes of the story. Whose point of view is closer to you and why?
Anosov: “Love must be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world! No life conveniences, calculations or compromises should concern her.”
Vera Nikolaevna: “And what is this: love or madness?”
Zheltkov: “... this is not a disease, not a manic idea - this is love with which God was pleased to reward me for something... “Hallowed be your name...”
Shein: “... is it possible to control such a feeling as love - a feeling that has not yet found an interpretation”
IV. Summing up the lesson.
The small package was kept in a case.
For Princess Vera Nikolaevna,
There was a garnet bracelet in it,
A stone birthday gift...Framed in gold frames,
Let them be cheap, of low standard,
A green pebble, like a count,
I was amazed by the special glow...He hid a living fire within himself -
Amulet from death and deception,
He called the owner: “Just touch me with your finger,
The future will emerge from the fog..."Beethoven's tune will sound
The third part of "Appasionata",
And the words: “I love you as long as I live!” -
They will repeat grenades for a long time...
Still from the film “Garnet Bracelet” (1964)
In August, a holiday at a suburban seaside resort was ruined by bad weather. The empty dachas were sadly wet in the rain. But in September the weather changed again and sunny days arrived. Princess Vera Nikolaevna Sheina did not leave her dacha - renovations were going on in her house - and now she is enjoying the warm days.
The princess's name day is coming. She is glad that it fell during the summer season - in the city they would have had to give a ceremonial dinner, and the Sheins “barely made ends meet.”
Princess Vera, whose former passionate love for her husband had long since turned into a feeling of strong, faithful, true friendship, tried with all her might to help the prince refrain from complete ruin.
Her younger sister Anna Nikolaevna Friesse, the wife of a very rich and very stupid man, and her brother Nikolai come to Vera’s name day. Towards evening, Prince Vasily Lvovich Shein brings the rest of the guests.
A package with a small jewelry case addressed to Princess Vera Nikolaevna is brought in the midst of simple country entertainment. Inside the case is a gold, low-grade blown bracelet, covered with garnets, which surround a small green stone.
When Vera... turned the bracelet in front of the light of an electric light bulb, then in them, deep under their smooth egg-shaped surface, lovely thick red living lights suddenly lit up.
In addition to the garnet bracelet, a letter is found in the case. An unknown donor congratulates Vera on Angel's Day and asks to accept a bracelet that belonged to his great-grandmother. The green pebble is a very rare green garnet that conveys the gift of providence and protects men from violent death. The author of the letter reminds the princess how seven years ago he wrote her “stupid and wild letters.” The letter ends with the words: “Your humble servant G.S.Zh. before death and after death.”
Prince Vasily Lvovich at this moment demonstrates his humorous home album, opened on the “story” “Princess Vera and the telegraph operator in love.” “It’s better not to,” Vera asks. But the husband still begins a commentary on his own drawings, full of brilliant humor. Here the girl Vera receives a letter with kissing doves, signed by telegraph operator P.P.Zh. Here young Vasya Shein returns Vera’s wedding ring: “I do not dare to interfere with your happiness, and yet it is my duty to warn you: telegraph operators are seductive, but insidious.” But Vera marries the handsome Vasya Shein, but the telegraph operator continues to persecute him. Here he is, disguised as a chimney sweep, entering Princess Vera’s boudoir. So, having changed clothes, he enters their kitchen as a dishwasher. Now, finally, he is in a madhouse.
After tea the guests leave. Whispering to her husband to look at the case with the bracelet and read the letter, Vera goes to see off General Yakov Mikhailovich Anosov. The old general, whom Vera and her sister Anna call grandfather, asks the princess to explain what is true in the prince’s story.
G.S.Zh. pursued her with letters two years before her marriage. Obviously, he constantly watched her, knew where she went at the evenings, how she was dressed. He did not serve at the telegraph office, but in “some government institution as a small official.” When Vera, also in writing, asked not to bother her with his persecutions, he fell silent about love and limited himself to congratulations on holidays, like today, on her name day. Inventing a funny story, the prince replaced the initials of the unknown admirer with his own.
The old man suggests that the unknown person may be a maniac.
Or maybe, Verochka, your path in life was crossed by exactly the kind of love that women dream of and that men are no longer capable of.
Vera finds her brother Nikolai very irritated - he also read the letter and believes that his sister will find herself in a “ridiculous position” if she accepts this ridiculous gift. Together with Vasily Lvovich, he is going to find the fan and return the bracelet.
The next day they find out the address of G.S.Zh. It turns out to be a blue-eyed man “with a gentle girlish face” of about thirty, thirty-five, named Zheltkov. Nikolai returns the bracelet to him. Zheltkov does not deny anything and admits the indecency of his behavior. Having discovered some understanding and even sympathy in the prince, he explains to him that he loves his wife, and this feeling will kill only death. Nikolai is indignant, but Vasily Lvovich treats him with pity.
Is he to blame for love and is it possible to control such a feeling as love - a feeling that has not yet found an interpreter.
Zheltkov admits that he squandered government money and is forced to flee the city, so that they will no longer hear about him. He asks Vasily Lvovich for permission to write his last letter to his wife. Having heard her husband’s story about Zheltkov, Vera felt “that this man would kill himself.”
In the morning, Vera learns from the newspaper about the suicide of the control chamber official G.S. Zheltkov, and in the evening the postman brings his letter.
Zheltkov writes that for him his whole life lies only in her, in Vera Nikolaevna. This is the love with which God rewarded him for something. As he leaves, he repeats in delight: “Hallowed be Thy name.” If she remembers him, then let her play the D major part of Beethoven’s “Sonata No. 2”, he thanks her from the bottom of his heart for being his only joy in life.
Vera is going to say goodbye to this man. The husband fully understands her impulse and lets his wife go.
Zheltkov’s coffin stands in the middle of his poor room. His lips smile blissfully and serenely, as if he had learned a deep secret. Vera lifts his head, places a large red rose under his neck and kisses his forehead. She understands that the love that every woman dreams of has passed her by. In the evening, Vera asks a pianist she knows to play Beethoven’s “Appassionata” for her, listens to the music and cries. When the music ends, Vera feels that Zheltkov has forgiven her.
Retold
There are many questions in the world that will forever concern humanity. Alexander Kuprin, in his story “The Garnet Bracelet,” reflects on one of these questions: does true love exist and what is it?
On one of the pages of the story there is the following phrase: “And I want to say that people in our time have forgotten how to love! I don't see true love. I haven’t seen it in my time either!” Is the author right?
The heroine of the story, Vera, receives letters from a gentleman unknown to her. He's in love with her. Vera’s grandfather, Anosov, once said in a conversation with his granddaughter: “Perhaps true love is flying past you now.” But Vera is married. She doesn't have strong feelings. So maybe they don't exist? Then let's imagine: you don't have a car, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. And is it possible to say that something does not exist in the world without knowing what it is? “... is it really possible to control such a feeling as love, a feeling that has not yet found an interpreter,” writes Kuprin.
Okay, let's imagine for a moment that love doesn't exist. Then how can we describe what we feel for our mother, how can we explain why the soul cannot find peace without another person, why some business, some work attracts us so much? There is only one explanation - love. If you feel good, if your heart doesn’t need anyone else, then this is true love. After all, we feel truly happy only when our soul is calm, when we show interest in something.
