Is it possible to control such a feeling as love? Essay by Kuprin A.I.

Topic: “Is there such a thing as unhappy love?”

Goals:

To create conditions for penetration into the artistic world of a master of words, comprehending the secrets of his mastery and drawing a conclusion about the originality of his work

Continue to work on the skills of meaningful reading of text, on the formation of skills in image analysis; improve the skill of identifying the theme and main idea of ​​a story; create conditions for developing the ability to express and argue one’s own point of view

Cultivate a sense of responsibility for your destiny and the destiny of people associated with you

Talk about the great and eternal spiritual value of a person - love; show how writers depict the influence of love on a person; analysis of love stories based on the role of detail in the work

Love is the most inexplicable feeling of a person; it is something that must be rediscovered every time. Relevance of the topic “Is there such a thing as unhappy love? (based on the works of I.A. Bunin and A.I. Kuprin)” is explained by the fact that love does not age, and today we can observe love the way Bunin and Kuprin saw it. In preparation for our lesson, you explored the features of the works of I. Bunin and A. Kuprin about love, analyzed the similarities and differences of these works.

Many volumes of poetry and prose are devoted to love, but it is never fully understood. Poets, writers and philosophers have been tirelessly repeating for thousands of years: there is more to true love than we are given to understand; love is the kinship between our being and the stars that burn in the sky.

Alyona

Love, love is a mysterious word,
Who could fully understand?
Everything is always old or new,
Are you languor of spirit or grace?
Irreversible loss
Or endless enrichment?
Hot day, what a sunset
Or the night that devastated hearts?
Or maybe you're just a reminder
About what inevitably awaits us all?
Merging with nature, with unconsciousness
And eternalworld cycle?

One of the philosophers once said that the experience of love is the most amazing experience of a person. They are trying to understand love, systematize it, put it into a framework to answer the eternal question - why do people love. After all, a long time ago it became clear to people: love brings a person not only light, but also darkness, it not only lifts, but also oppresses a person.

Anya

Love not only elevates.
Love sometimes destroys us.
Breaks destinies and hearts...
Beautiful in her desires,
She can be so dangerous
Like an explosion, like nine grams of lead.
She bursts in suddenly.
And you can no longer tomorrow
Don't see a cute face.
Love not only elevates.
Love accomplishes and decides everything.
And we go into this captivity.
And we don’t dream of freedom.
While the dawn rises in the soul,
The soul does not want change.

Today we will talk about such different types of love, and we will also try to answer the problematic question that sounds in the topic of our lesson, “Is there such a thing as unhappy love? (based on the works of I.A. Bunin and A.I. Kuprin).”

Extraordinary strength and sincerity of feeling are characteristic of the heroes of their works. Kuprin firmly believed in love. His work resurrects the high order of feelings that created inspired hymns of love. Bunin also always succeeded in telling stories about high feelings, I think, because they came from the depths of his heart. Love captures all a person’s thoughts, all his strength. But something always goes wrong, and the lovers are forced to separate. Reading the works of these writers, one can assume that love is something that causes people nothing but suffering and misfortune. Indeed, the ending of Alexander Kuprin’s “Garnet Bracelet” is tragic: the main character commits suicide. And in “Dark Alleys” by Ivan Bunin there is no happy ending. All “lovers” of writers live in anticipation of love, search for it and, more often than not, scorched by it, die. But let’s still try to figure out whether the love of the main characters in the works of Bunin and Kuprin was unhappy.

Love is something that needs to be rediscovered every time. To the question of what love is, it is impossible to give one single answer that would be suitable for all times and all people. And no matter how many poets, philosophers, psychologists, lovers give beautiful and complete answers, the generations following them will seek and find new ones.

Vocabulary work.
Working with the dictionary: - What is love? (students' opinions) Students' answers about what they think love means. Questions about love

What is love like according to schoolchildren?

The topic is relevant also because love is a high, pure, beautiful feeling that people have sung since ancient times. Love, as we know, does not age, and today we can observe love the way Bunin and Kuprin saw it.

Does every person know how to love?

Features of I. A. Bunin’s works about love

All love is great happiness,
even if it is not divided.
I. Bunin*

Bunin's concept of the image of love

“Having fallen in love, we die...”*, I think that these words of K. Balmont reveal I. Bunin’s attitude to love in the best possible way. Bunin has his own, special approach to the “traditional” topic. Many writers of the 19th century tried to give answers to the questions: is love destructive or saving? Is it possible to carry it through your entire life? How is this theme revealed in Bunin’s works? He simply does not have “saving” love - in not a single story will he give his heroes the opportunity to “become ossified in warmth and comfort,” to mix love and everyday life. What is this connected with? Obviously, with Bunin's worldview. How does the writer perceive the world and the people in it?

What is love? What kind of love is there? What kind of love does I.A. write about? Bunin in his stories? Can unrequited love bring happiness?

Vlada

It was a wonderful spring!
They sat on the shore -
The river was quiet, clear,
The sun was rising, the birds were singing;
The valley stretched beyond the river,
Calm, lush green;
Nearby, a scarlet rosehip was blooming,
There was an alley of dark linden trees.

It was a wonderful spring!
They sat on the shore -
She was in her prime,
His mustache was barely black.
Oh, if only someone could see them
Then, at their morning meeting,
And I would look out for their faces
Or would I overhear their speeches -
How sweet his tongue would be,
The original language of love!
He would probably himself, for this moment,
Bloomed at the bottom of a sad soul!..
I met them later in the world:
She was the wife of another
He was married, and about the past
There was not a word in sight;
There was peace on their faces,
Their life flowed brightly and smoothly,
They, meeting each other,
We could laugh in cold blood...
And there, along the river bank,
Where did the scarlet rose hips bloom then?
Just simple fishermen
We went to a dilapidated boat
And they sang songs - and it was dark
What remains is closed to people,
What was said there
And how much has been forgotten.

What do these titles of stories from the collection “Dark Alleys” say?

Based on these names, answer the question, what is love?

Which of these stories can be translated as “the art of loving”, or

"textbook of love"? What understanding of love is embodied in the works of I.A. Bunin?

Prove using an example from one of the stories

Love is the greatest happiness given to man, but eternal doom always hangs over it.

Love is always connected with tragedy, happy ending

true love doesn't happen...

Loneliness becomes an inevitable fate of man,

unable to discern a close soul in another...

Love is a great value, It is always pure and chaste.

Love is the highest gift of fate, and the more beautiful this gift,

the more fleeting it is.

Love is something elusive and natural,

blinding a person, affecting him like a sunstroke

Presentation of shades of love

According to Bunin: “All love is great happiness, even if it is not shared”*. (Writing in a notebook) In the thirty-eight short stories of “Dark Alleys,” amazing female types appear before readers.

Bunin's heroes about love

Here is Nadezhda from the story “Dark Alleys”. Throughout her life she carried her love for the master who had once seduced her. The lovers had not seen each other for thirty years and met by chance at an inn, where Nadezhda is the hostess, and Nikolai Alekseevich is a random traveler. He is not able to rise to her high feelings, to understand why Nadezhda did not marry “with such beauty that ... she had.”

How can you love just one person all your life?

Meanwhile, for Nadezhda Nikolenka remained an ideal, the one and only, for the rest of her life: “No matter how much time passed, she lived alone. I knew that you had been gone for a long time, that it was as if nothing had happened to you, but... It’s too late to reproach me now, but it’s true, you abandoned me very heartlessly.”* It was she who once read poetry to her

“about all sorts of “dark alleys””...

Nikolai Alekseevich is a nobleman. Disdainful of the lower class.
A military man who has made a good career.

In their youth, Nikolai Alekseevich and Nadezhda loved each other.
Nikolai Alekseevich “very heartlessly” abandoned Nadezhda, she even wanted to “kill herself.”

Having changed horses, Nikolai Alekseevich leaves, and Nadezhda remains forever at the inn. For one it is a casual hobby of youth, for another it is love for life. Yes, perhaps Nadezhda is not happy now, many years later, but how strong that feeling was, how much joy and happiness it brought, that it is impossible to forget about it. Nadezhda continues to love, but cannot forgive the betrayal.
There is no forgiveness in the heroine’s heart for the evil and misfortune that she experienced so many years ago.

Nikolai Alekseevich about love: "Everything passes. Everything is forgotten"

Hope: “Everything passes, but not everything is forgotten” “No matter how much time passes,

all lived alone..."

That is Love for the main character - happiness .

Then what becomes the reason for the separation of the heroes:

The reason for the separation of the heroes is public opinion: high society would never accept a former serf peasant woman into their circle.

Does such an opinion exist now?

Nikolai Alekseevich is a weak person. Prejudices were able to defeat love in him. Considers relationships with hope "a vulgar, ordinary story" but at the same time he understands that it is Nadezhda "gave him the best moments of his life" having lost her, he lost the most precious thing he had in life.

Love in Bunin's works is dramatic, even tragic; it is something elusive and natural, blinding a person, affecting him like a sunstroke.
Love is a great abyss, mysterious and inexplicable, strong and painful.

Love in his works is a passion that captures all a person’s thoughts, his entire being, spiritual and physical.

The main features of love in Bunin's works. (love, often mutual, an outburst of feelings, passion, physical intimacy, then the separation of the heroes, or the death of one of them, Bunin does not have a happy ending, love never ends with marriage, the creation of a family, the birth of a child)

Features of A. I. Kuprin’s works about love

…is he to blame for love and is it possible
manage such a feeling as love.
A. Kuprin*

The tragedy of love in the works of Kuprin

Paul

Love, love, says the legend,
Union of soul with dear soul.
Their unity, combination
And their fatal merger,
And the duel is fatal.
And which one is more tender?
In the unequal struggle of two hearts,
The more inevitable and more certain,
Loving, suffering, passionately melting,
It will finally wear out

.

With no less justification, Kuprin can be called a singer of sublime love. Today in class we will remember Kuprin's story "Olesya", we will walk through the wilderness of Polesie, where the heroine of the story lives, we will look into the closet of the poor official in the story "Pomegranate" "to look at amazingly beautiful and powerful examples of ideal love.

Let's take another look into the wilderness of Polesie and remember the main points of the story.
-

First, let's remember the plot of the story. (Student's story) In the depths of the forest, in Polesie, grandmother Manuilikha lived with her granddaughter Olesya. The villagers considered Manuilikha a witch, and Olesya was also called a sorceress. Olesya's mother was burned, thinking that she was a witch, the grandmother miraculously saved Olesya and disappeared with her far into the forest. One day, Panych Ivan Timofeevich comes to the Polesie forests to hunt. There was an unexpected meeting between him and Olesya in the forest. Ivan Timofeevich sincerely fell in love with the romantic Olesya. The girl also reciprocated. Ivan Timofeevich heard what local residents were saying about Olesya and her grandmother. But he did not believe that Olesya was a witch. At his request, Olesya goes to church in the village, where the villagers beat her. Ivan Timofeevich feels guilty about this. One day he makes Olesya an offer to go to the city with him, i.e. marry him. The girl would have to choose between him and her grandmother. Naturally, Olesya could not leave old Manuilikha alone. She refuses the gentleman, although she sincerely loves him, she realizes that she will be a stranger in the city, but here in the Polesie forests she feels good and cozy. The lovers separate.
Olesya was considered a witch.

What does the word witch mean?

Working with the dictionary: Sorceress means not only a witch, but a sorceress, a charmer, a sorceress.

The name Olesya is melodious and poetic and corresponds precisely to this meaning.
-What attracts the reader to Olesya? (She is distinguished by the desire for goodness, purity, love as the main meaning of human existence. Olesya is not afraid to live in harmony with her heart, therefore she is destined to see further, to feel more subtly than her cautious chosen one.
Olesya is a child of nature and is inextricably linked with it. She firmly grasped the wisdom: that one should not do harm to a living creature, be it a person, an animal, or a bird.

About peasants who regularly attend church, who consider themselves respectable, but in whose souls anger and hatred lurk, Olesya says: “We don’t even need people. People who carry anger and cruelty."
For Olesya, kindness is the most important quality in a person. (Her phrase addressed to the young master is filled with deep meaning: “Well, come in, perhaps, if you really are a kind person”)

What attracts Olesya I.T.? (The master is surprised by the grace, delicacy, nobility of Olesya. “He was captivated by Olesya’s flexible, agile mind”) Olesya charmed, bewitched the master Ivan Timofeevich - the song “Enchanted, Bewitched”

Did you sincerely fall in love with Oles I. Timofeevich? (Olesya’s feelings are always sincere, she does not know how to deceive either others or herself) Olesya plunged into the magic of love.

Does Ivan Timofeevich sincerely love Olesya? (His sincere love is like a fairy tale, it attracts attention because it is pure and selfless, but in I.T. his egoism is alive, which he acquired while living in the city, and this is alien to Olesya)

Why, despite the sincerity of feelings, does everything end with the separation of the heroes? (Despite mutual love, Olesya and her lover stand on opposite sides. Ivan Timofeevich grew up in civilization and suffers from the diseases of society. “A kind man, but weak,” he is not capable of true love, he understands the impossibility of shared happiness. Kuprin claims that only in unity with nature, a person retains his naturalness and is able to achieve spiritual purity and nobility.)
-

How does the story end?

(The story ends with a bright detail - I.T. finds a string of red beads. This is not so much a memory of Olesya’s “tender, generous love” as a symbol of her pure feeling, a symbol of her undying love. Each bead is like a light of this love.)

But not only a string of coral beads remains after Olesya, but also painful thoughts that previously had no place in the life of a person with a “cold and lazy heart.”

Conclusion: So, in the story “Olesya” we saw an example of omnipotent, sincere love, pure and tender love, and most importantly mutual love, but this love did not give the heroes happiness, because these are people from different worlds, from different civilizations.
Coral beads are a symbol of Olesya’s unburning love. In another work, Kuprin used a symbol - pomegranate - a symbol of the eternal, sincere, omnipotent, unrequited and never-ending love of the petty official Zheltkov for a socialite.

"Hallowed be thy name"

The plot of the story. 1 min

In the fall of 1910, while working on “The Garnet Bracelet,” Kuprin wrote from Odessa to Batyushkov: “I don’t know what will happen, but when... I think, I cry; I recently told one good actress - I cry. I will say one thing: I have never written anything more chaste.”

About Creating a Story

The story was published in 1911. Its plot is based on a real event (the love of telegraph official P.P. Yellow for the wife of an important dignitary, member of the State Council Lyubimov).

In life, everything turned out differently - the official accepted the bracelet and stopped writing letters; nothing more is known about him. In the Lyubimov family this incident was perceived as strange and curious.

(Vocabulary work curious)

III Work on the story.

This is the kind of love that General Anosov spoke about that took possession of the soul of the poor official Zheltkov. He only needed her alone - Vera Nikolaevna Sheina. Now let’s try to succinctly convey the plot of the story. (student says)
A petty official, a lonely and timid dreamer, falls in love with a young society lady. Unrequited love lasts eight years. The lover's letters are the subject of ridicule by members of the family clan of princes Shein and Bulat-Tuganovsky. Princess Vera Nikolaevna, the recipient of these love revelations, does not take them seriously either. A gift sent by an unknown lover - a pomegranate - causes a storm of indignation from the princess's brother. He is ready to destroy the “plebeian” who dared to show signs of attention to a hereditary noblewoman. Close people consider the telegraph operator to be abnormal. The love of the “little man” ends tragically; he dies, unable to withstand the collision with the world of cruelty and indifference, with the embitterment of hardened people.

Presentation slide

Analytical conversation of a comparative nature. 1 min

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 finished 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)

What social barriers (and are they the only ones?) push the hero’s love into the sphere of inaccessible love? (different social status - princess - minor official (telegraph operator); Vera Nikolaevna is married, therefore she cannot reciprocate Zheltkov, Vera Nikolaevna grew up and was brought up in a completely different world - secular society, which sometimes deprives a person of sincerity, the beauty of feelings and thoughts)

5) Dialogue on the story “Pomegranate” " 1 min
The story “The Garnet Bracelet” is not just about love, but about the kind of love that “will never pass or be forgotten,” for which they sacrifice their lives. No wonder K. Paustovsky called “The Pomegranate Bracelet” “one of the most fragrant, languid... and saddest” stories about love.

The image of the protagonist of the story, the petty official Zheltkov, leaves no one indifferent. He committed suicide due to unrequited love. It may be stupid to commit suicide. Maybe it would be more correct to take the motto: if you love, then you have to fight for love. And if there is no reciprocity, then you need to drown out this feeling in yourself. Maybe Zheltkov is a weak person? What about women? What woman does not dream of devoted, selfless love?

So how does one feel about Zheltkov? Sympathize? Regret? Admire or despise?
Selecting a topic for discussion:

First idea Second idea

Zheltkov is a weak, weak-willed person, so he committed suicide, unable to survive unrequited love. Zheltkov is a great man, he had the talent to love, but by the will of fate, love was not reciprocated. His feeling is one of pride. He passed away so as not to interfere with the life of the woman he loved, not to be an obstacle.
Weak or great Zheltkov. What was Zheltkov’s talent for love?

Students' opinions.

But is suicide the solution?
Discussion of the problem of suicide in the modern world?
There is only one life, you need to appreciate it, accept it as it is, overcome difficulties, obstacles and continue to live. According to God's law, suicide is a grave sin; previously, suicides were buried outside the cemetery; they are not buried in the church.
We can treat the hero as we like, and it’s good if such a tragedy does not happen in the life of each of us, but it is important for us to determine the author’s position, to identify the attitude of the author himself towards his hero.

Vera Nikolaevna’s name day 9 min
plot
- Where does the story begin (description of nature)
- Read the text description of nature
- What mood does nature create (Sadness, sadness, expectation of something tragic)

It was to her that the lover Zheltkov sent letters.
September 17 is the name day of Faith, Hope, Love. On this day Vera celebrated her name day. Guests have gathered at her house. How many? (13)

What does high society do? (The guests are having harmless fun: playing cards, listening to the singing of the socialite and reveler Vasyuchka, making fun of Prince Shein’s inventions.) Illustration

How do the princes’ family feel about Zheltkov’s messages? (they laugh, mock, his messages are a reason for jokes)

What episode of the name day made an unpleasant impression on you? (How Prince Shein demonstrated his handwritten album, where the love story of Princess Vera and the telegraph operator in love is recreated with buffoonery. In this composed story, the telegraph operator in love showers Verochka with love messages written contrary to all spelling rules, disguises himself as a chimney sweep, penetrates the boudoir, leaves traces of soot everywhere, ends up in a madhouse, losing his mind from love, and before his death he sends his beloved two telegraph buttons and a perfume bottle - filled with his tears)

What can be concluded about high society? (high society is immoral, the sublime love feelings of a small official are alien to it, people of the upper circle mock and ridicule true feelings, treat people of lower origin with contempt, are proud of their social status) - write in a notebook.

What does Vera Nikolaevna expect from her name day and what happens on this day?
According to Kuprin, “Vera Nikolaevna Sheina always expected something happy and wonderful from her name day”

What gifts did Vera receive on this name day, September 17?
The princess receives expensive, lovingly chosen gifts:
From my husband – “wonderful” made of pear-shaped pearls"
From my sister - “a small notebook in an amazing binding”
From a fan of Zheltkov - a garnet bracelet. Write it down in your notebook

How did Zheltkov’s gift look compared to the expensive gifts? What is its value?
Zheltkov’s gift is “golden, low-grade, very thick, but blown and covered on the outside with small old, poorly polished garnets,” looks like a tasteless trinket. But its meaning and value lie elsewhere. Densely red grenades light up with live fires under electric light.

What does Vera compare the deep red garnets to? (with blood) In the story “Olesya”, remember - the coral beads that Olesya gave to Ivan Timofeevich as a farewell symbol - a symbol of love.

Grenades burn like Zheltkov’s heart, burning with love. After all, he gave the most expensive thing he had - a family jewel

What does pomegranate mean? for Zheltkov himself? for him, it is not only a symbol of reverent, endless and hopeless love, it also has some magical power, like any family jewel. Zheltkov writes about this in a letter: “According to an old legend preserved in our family, it has the ability to impart the gift of foresight to women who wear it and drives away heavy thoughts from them.” Write down the answer to the question in your notebook

Why did Zheltkov give Vera the most valuable thing?

This is a symbol of his hopeless, enthusiastic, selfless love. He doesn’t feel sorry for anything for Vera Nikolaevna. He wanted to bring her joy

How was Zheltkov’s gift received by Vera and her family? (Vera - alarmed, worried, for her husband - this is a reason for ridicule, Vera’s brother is indignant, shows contempt for a person of a lower circle, Anosov - says that true love has passed Vera by)

It is Anosov who reflects on true love. Who is Anosov?

This is a friend of Vera and Anna’s late father, General Anosov, whom they called grandfather. He gives the impression of a simple, but noble, and most importantly wise man. Kuprin endowed him with Russian peasant traits: “a good-natured, cheerful outlook on life,” “an ingenuous, naive faith.”

How does Anosov feel about love? (“Love among people has taken such vulgar forms and has descended to some kind of everyday convenience, to a little entertainment. The fault lies with men who, at the age of twenty, are saturated, with chicken bodies and hare souls, incapable of strong desires, of heroic deeds, of tenderness and adoration before love")

This is how the story begins with the theme of true love, love for the sake of which, according to Anosov, “to accomplish a feat, to give one’s life, to go to torment is not work at all, but one joy.”
Next topic for discussion:

First idea Second idea

Love, like Zheltkov’s, happens once every thousand years. Strong, passionate, eternal Love Zheltkova is love at a distance, love is admiration and admiration for the beloved.

But if he became a husband, then love would turn into everyday life and soon become a habit.

Does true love exist? What is it.
Students' opinions are listened to.

Love is a noble feeling that elevates a person, makes his soul purer and better. Of course, we don’t know what would happen to Zheltkov’s love if he lived every day near Vera Nikolaevna. But in the story we are shown precisely talent, that is, the ability to love.

Yes, indeed, true love passes by Vera Nikolaevna, love that happens once every thousand years.

Tragic ending. 8 min
The denouement came soon, namely, the tragic ending (referring to the lesson plan) - the death of Zheltkov. He didn’t even know that love would play a cruel joke on him, that it would be cruel, but you couldn’t command the feeling.

The tragedy happened, but first the last letter was written. Reading a letter. (reading) Kirill
Now I will show you in gentle sounds a life that has humbly and joyfully doomed itself to torment, suffering and death. I knew neither complaint, nor reproach, nor the pain of pride. I have one prayer before you: “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 One, praise to you, passionate praise and quiet love. "Hallowed be Thy name."

I remember your every step, smile, look, the sound of your gait. My last memories are enveloped in sweet sadness, quiet, beautiful sadness. But I won't cause you any grief. I leave alone, silently, as God and fate willed. "Hallowed be Thy name."

In my sad dying hour, I pray only to you. Life could be wonderful for me too. Don't complain, poor heart, don't complain. In my soul I call upon death, but in my heart I am full of praise to you: “Hallowed be Thy name.”

You, you and the people who surrounded you, you all don’t know how beautiful you were. The clock is striking. Time. And, dying, in the sorrowful hour of parting with life, I still sing - glory to You.

Here she comes, death pacifying everything, and I say - glory to You!..

Calm down, darling, calm down, calm down. Do you remember about 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 loved each other only for a moment, but forever. Do you remember about me? Do you remember? Do you remember? Now I feel your tears. Calm down. I sleep so sweet, sweet, sweet.

-What is your impression of Zheltkov’s last letter?
For Zheltkov, loving Vera Nikolaevna even without reciprocity is great happiness. He is grateful to her that for eight years she was the only joy in his life, the only consolation, the only thought.

When Vera found out about Zheltkov’s death, she goes to say goodbye to the dead, of course she feels guilty. (illustration)

Third topic for discussion

First idea Second idea
Zheltkov committed suicide because he had no way out. There is always a way out, and committing suicide is stupidity
Did Zheltkov need to die?
Students' opinions

Let's read the episode of Vera's farewell to Zheltkov. What does she feel as she peers into the face of the one who passed away because of her?
(chapter 12)

She realized that Zheltkov was a great man. It was J. who had the talent of love.
- What mood will the ending of the story be filled with?

The ending of the story is imbued with a feeling of light sadness. Zheltkov dies, but Vera Nikolaevna awakens to life; something previously inaccessible was revealed to her. Music is of great importance in awakening the soul of Faith.

Beethoven's Second Sonata. Why did Zheltkov force the woman he loved to listen to this particular immortal work?

After Zheltkov’s death, pianist Zhenya Reiter plays for Vera Nikolaevna the immortal Beethoven sonata, the same one about which he wrote to her in his last letter. Apparently this music revealed to Vera the beauty of his love and helped her understand everything and feel forgiven.

Music "Second Sonata" by Beethoven. To the sound of it, I read the place in the chapter where the writer conveys the words taking shape in Vera’s mind under the influence of music, which seem to come from Zheltkov

Students' opinions

So, the unfortunate Zheltkov is by no means pitiful, and the depth of his feeling, the ability to self-sacrifice deserves not only sympathy, but also admiration

What do you think love consists of?

Love elevates a person and transforms his soul. Love blossoms in Zheltkov’s heart and gives him great happiness. He limited his life only to this feeling, abandoning the rest. This ideal, pure love elevates a little person, makes him significant in his own and other people's eyes.

Formulate your views on love according to Kuprin? (sublime, beautiful, sometimes mutual, but often unrequited, tragic ending)

Comparison of works by I. A. Bunin and A. I. Kuprin about love

Differences in approaches to the topic of love

Make a comparative table: “Views on love according to Kuprin and Bunin”
Love in the works of Kuprin Love in the works of Bunin
A sublime, beautiful feeling, the adoration of the beloved, the admiration of the beloved, love that does not require rewards, love is self-sacrifice, but it all ends in separation or the death of the hero. Sublime feeling, reciprocity, passion, physical intimacy, separation of heroes, tragic ending.

There is no such thing as unhappy love
It may be bitter, difficult,
Unresponsive and reckless
Can be deadly
But love is never unhappy
Even if she kills
Anyone who doesn't understand this
And happy love is not worth it.

7. Reflection

What did we learn from today? What conclusions will we draw for ourselves? What did the lesson help you understand and realize?

8. Final word from the teacher. 1 min

Kuprin and Bunin poeticized love, described examples of beauty and nobility in their works

1) At home you will write a short reflection on how you understand these words.
Write a miniature essay on one of the topics:

“Love, love is a mysterious word,

Who could fully understand him?

“Which of the heroes of I.A.’s prose? I remember Bunin most of all"

« All love is great happiness."

Lesson summary. 1 min
So, our lesson has come to an end. I thank you for your work and want to acknowledge your activity with ratings. (grading). Today we took a trip to the magical land of love and learned for ourselves that there really is a talent to love, and it is not given to everyone, but to a select few, people with sensitive feelings, ready to sacrifice themselves in the name of love. We were convinced that Kuprin and Bunin are masters in depicting human feelings; they were able to deeply show human experiences, open the soul of a person who loves and suffers. We are convinced that love is a wonderful, ennobling feeling.

The day would fade in my soul, and darkness would come again,
If only we would banish love from the earth.
Only he knew bliss who touched his heart with passion,
And whoever didn’t know love doesn’t care
That he didn’t live... (Moliere)

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 renovations were underway in her town house.

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 position of the prince 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 bizarrely, he combined truth and fiction so whimsically 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 uncomfortable 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.

To Jenny’s question 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

Average rating: 4.4. Total ratings received: 13864.

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. 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 years old, 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. And I haven’t seen it in my time!” 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, let’s say, a car, but that doesn’t mean that 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.