A.I. Kuprin in his works often raises the topic of true love. In his story “The Garnet Bracelet,” written in 1911, he touches on its boundlessness and significance in human life. However, often this vivid feeling turns out to be unrequited. And the power of such love can destroy the one who experiences it.

Direction and genre of the work

Kuprin, being a true literary artist, loved to reflect real life in his works. He was the one who wrote many stories and novellas based on real events. “Garnet Bracelet” was no exception. “Garnet Bracelet” genre is a story written in the spirit.

It is based on an incident that happened to the wife of one of the Russian governors. A telegraph official was unrequitedly and passionately in love with her, who once sent her a chain with a small pendant.

If for people from the real world this incident was tantamount to a joke, then for Kuprin’s characters a similar story turns into a strong tragedy.

The genre of the work “The Garnet Bracelet” cannot be a story, due to the insufficient number of characters and one storyline. If we talk about the features of the composition, it is worth highlighting many small details that, as events slowly develop, hint at a catastrophe at the end of the work. To an inattentive reader, it may seem that the text is fairly filled with details. However, they are the ones help the author create a complete picture.“Garnet Bracelet,” the composition of which is also framed by inserts about love, ends with a scene explaining the meaning of the epigraph: “L. van Beethoven. 2 Son. (op. 2, no. 2). "Largo Appassionato"

The theme of love, in one form or another, runs through the entire work.

Attention! There is nothing left unsaid in this masterpiece. Thanks to skillful artistic descriptions, realistic images emerge before the eyes of readers, the verisimilitude of which no one will doubt. Natural, simple people with ordinary desires and needs arouse genuine interest among readers.

Image system

There are not many heroes in Kuprin's work. Each of them the author gives a detailed portrait. The appearance of the characters reveals what is going on in the soul of each of them. Descriptions of the characters in “The Garnet Bracelet” and their memories occupy a large part of the text.

Vera Sheina

This woman of royal calm is the central figure story. It was on her name day that an event took place that changed her life forever - she received a garnet bracelet as a gift, which gives its owner the gift of foresight.

Important! A revolution in the heroine’s consciousness occurs when she listens to a Beethoven sonata, bequeathed to her by Zheltkov. Dissolving in music, she awakens to life, to passions. However, her feelings are difficult, and even impossible, for others to understand.

Georgy Zheltkov

The only joy in the life of a petty official is opportunity to love in the distance Vera Nikolaevna. However, the hero of “The Garnet Bracelet” cannot stand his all-consuming love. It is she who elevates the character above other people with their base, and even insignificant, feelings and desires.

Thanks to his gift of high love, Georgy Stepanovich was able to experience tremendous happiness. He bequeathed his life to Vera alone. Dying, he did not hold a grudge against her, but continued to love, cherishing her image in his heart, as evidenced by the words spoken towards her: “Hallowed be thy name!”

Main idea

If you look closely at Kuprin’s work, you can see a number of short stories that reflect his search for the ideal of love. These include:

• "Shulamith";
• "On the road";
• "Helenochka."

The final piece of this love cycle, “Pomegranate Bracelet,” showed, alas, not the deep feeling that the writer was looking for and would like to fully reflect. However, in terms of its strength, Zheltkov’s painful unrequited love is not inferior at all, but on the contrary, surpasses the attitudes and feelings of other characters. His hot and passionate emotions in the story are contrasted with the calm that reigns between the Sheins. The author emphasizes that only good friendship remains between them, and the spiritual flame has long died out.

Zheltkov is supposed to stir up Vera’s calm state. He does not evoke reciprocal feelings in a woman, but awakens excitement in her. If throughout the book they were expressed as premonitions, then at the end obvious contradictions rage in her soul.

Sheina feels a sense of danger already when she first sees a gift sent to her and a letter from a secret admirer. She involuntarily compares the modest gold bracelet, decorated with five bright red garnets, to blood. This is one of the key symbols, marking the future suicide of the unhappy lover.

The author admitted that he had never written anything more sensitive and subtle. And the analysis of the work “Garnet Bracelet” confirms this. The bitterness of the story intensifies autumn landscape, the atmosphere of farewell to summer dachas, cold and clear days. Even Vera’s husband appreciated the nobility of Zheltkov’s soul; he allowed the telegraph operator to write her the last letter. Every line in it is a poem about love, a real ode.

Play by Alexander Ostrovsky: summary by chapter

Strong episode The story can be considered a scene where the main characters meet, whose destinies are so suddenly intertwined and changed. The living Vera looked at the peaceful face of the deceased and thought about her mental shock. Numerous aphorisms, often used in speech, fill this small work. What quotes make readers shiver:

• “I am eternally grateful to you just for the fact that you exist. I tested myself - this is not a disease, not a manic idea - this is love with which God wanted to reward me for something.”
• “At that second she realized that the love that every woman dreams of had passed her by.”
• “Do not go to your death until you are called.”

Garnet BRACELET. Alexander Kuprin

Garnet bracelet. A.I. Kuprin (analysis)

Conclusion

Zheltkov’s unrequited passion did not pass without a trace for the main character. The symbol of eternal love - a garnet bracelet - turned her life upside down. Kuprin, who always blesses this feeling, expressed in his story the full power of this inexplicable gravity.

Introduction
“The Garnet Bracelet” is one of the most famous stories by Russian prose writer Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin. It was published in 1910, but for the domestic reader it still remains a symbol of unselfish, sincere love, the kind that girls dream about, and the one that we so often miss. Previously, we published a summary of this wonderful work. In this same publication we will tell you about the main characters, analyze the work and talk about its problems.

The events of the story begin to unfold on the birthday of Princess Vera Nikolaevna Sheina. They celebrate at the dacha with their closest people. At the height of the fun, the hero of the occasion receives a gift - a garnet bracelet. The sender decided to remain unrecognized and signed the short note only with the initials of the HSG. However, everyone immediately guesses that this is Vera’s long-time admirer, a certain petty official who has been inundating her with love letters for many years. The princess's husband and brother quickly figure out the identity of the annoying suitor and the next day they go to his home.

In a wretched apartment they are met by a timid official named Zheltkov, he meekly agrees to take the gift and promises never to appear in front of the respectable family again, provided that he makes a final farewell call to Vera and makes sure that she does not want to know him. Vera Nikolaevna, of course, asks Zheltkov to leave her. The next morning the newspapers will write that a certain official took his own life. In his farewell note, he wrote that he had squandered government property.

Main characters: characteristics of key images

Kuprin is a master of portraiture, and through appearance he draws the character of the characters. The author pays a lot of attention to each character, devoting a good half of the story to portrait characteristics and memories, which are also revealed by the characters. The main characters of the story are:

• – princess, central female image;
• - her husband, the prince, the provincial leader of the nobility;
• - a minor official of the control chamber, passionately in love with Vera Nikolaevna;
• Anna Nikolaevna Friesse– Vera’s younger sister;
• Nikolai Nikolaevich Mirza-Bulat-Tuganovsky– brother of Vera and Anna;
• Yakov Mikhailovich Anosov- general, military comrade of Vera’s father, close friend of the family.

Vera is an ideal representative of high society in appearance, manners, and character.

“Vera took after her mother, a beautiful Englishwoman, with her tall, flexible figure, gentle but cold and proud face, beautiful, albeit rather large hands and that charming sloping shoulders that can be seen in ancient miniatures.”

Princess Vera was married to Vasily Nikolaevich Shein. Their love had long ceased to be passionate and moved into that calm stage of mutual respect and tender friendship. Their union was happy. The couple did not have children, although Vera Nikolaevna passionately wanted a baby, and therefore gave all her unspent feelings to the children of her younger sister.

Vera was royally calm, coldly kind to everyone, but at the same time very funny, open and sincere with close people. She was not characterized by such feminine tricks as affectation and coquetry. Despite her high status, Vera was very prudent, and knowing how poorly things were going for her husband, she sometimes tried to deprive herself so as not to put him in an uncomfortable position.

Vera Nikolaevna’s husband is a talented, pleasant, gallant, noble man. He has an amazing sense of humor and is a brilliant storyteller. Shein keeps a home journal, which contains true stories with pictures about the life of the family and those close to them.

Vasily Lvovich loves his wife, perhaps not as passionately as in the first years of marriage, but who knows how long passion actually lasts? The husband deeply respects her opinion, feelings, and personality. He is compassionate and merciful to others, even those who are much lower in status than him (this is evidenced by his meeting with Zheltkov). Shein is noble and endowed with the courage to admit mistakes and his own wrongness.

We first meet Official Zheltkov towards the end of the story. Until this moment, he is present in the work invisibly in the grotesque image of a klutz, an eccentric, a fool in love. When the long-awaited meeting finally takes place, we see before us a meek and shy person, it is customary to not notice such people and call them “little”:

“He was tall, thin, with long, fluffy, soft hair.”

His speeches, however, are devoid of the chaotic whims of a madman. He is fully aware of his words and actions. Despite his apparent cowardice, this man is very courageous; he boldly tells the prince, Vera Nikolaevna’s legal husband, that he is in love with her and cannot do anything about it. Zheltkov does not fawn over the rank and position in society of his guests. He submits, but not to fate, but only to his beloved. And he also knows how to love – selflessly and sincerely.

“It so happened that I am not interested in anything in life: neither politics, nor science, nor philosophy, nor concern for the future happiness of people - for me life lies only in you. I now feel that I have crashed into your life like some kind of uncomfortable wedge. If you can, forgive me for this"

Analysis of the work

Kuprin got the idea for his story from real life. In reality, the story was more of an anecdotal nature. A certain poor telegraph operator named Zheltikov was in love with the wife of one of the Russian generals. One day this eccentric was so brave that he sent his beloved a simple gold chain with a pendant in the shape of an Easter egg. It's hilarious and that's it! Everyone laughed at the stupid telegraph operator, but the inquisitive writer’s mind decided to look beyond the anecdote, because real drama can always be hidden behind the apparent curiosity.

Also in “The Pomegranate Bracelet,” the Sheins and their guests first make fun of Zheltkov. Vasily Lvovich even has a funny story about this in his home magazine called “Princess Vera and the telegraph operator in love.” People tend not to think about other people's feelings. The Sheins were not bad, callous, soulless (this is proven by the metamorphosis in them after meeting Zheltkov), they just did not believe that the love that the official admitted could exist..

There are many symbolic elements in the work. For example, a garnet bracelet. Garnet is a stone of love, anger and blood. If a feverish person picks it up (a parallel with the expression “love fever”), the stone will take on a more saturated hue. According to Zheltkov himself, this special type of pomegranate (green pomegranate) gives women the gift of foresight, and protects men from violent death. Zheltkov, having parted with his amulet bracelet, dies, and Vera unexpectedly predicts his death.

Another symbolic stone - pearls - also appears in the work. Vera receives pearl earrings as a gift from her husband on the morning of her name day. Pearls, despite their beauty and nobility, are an omen of bad news.
The weather also tried to predict something bad. On the eve of the fateful day, a terrible storm broke out, but on the birthday everything calmed down, the sun came out and the weather was calm, like a calm before a deafening clap of thunder and an even stronger storm.

Problems of the story

The key problem of the work is the question “What is true love?” In order for the “experiment” to be pure, the author gives different types of “love”. This is the tender love-friendship of the Sheins, and the calculating, convenient love of Anna Friesse for her indecently rich old man-husband, who blindly adores her soul mate, and the long-forgotten ancient love of General Amosov, and the all-consuming love-worship of Zheltkov for Vera.

The main character herself cannot understand for a long time whether it is love or madness, but looking into his face, albeit hidden by the mask of death, she is convinced that it was love. Vasily Lvovich draws the same conclusions after meeting his wife’s admirer. And if at first he was somewhat belligerent, then later he could not be angry with the unfortunate man, because, it seems, a secret was revealed to him, which neither he, nor Vera, nor their friends could comprehend.

People are selfish by nature and even in love, they first of all think about their feelings, masking their own egocentrism from their other half and even themselves. True love, which occurs between a man and a woman once every hundred years, puts the beloved first. So Zheltkov calmly lets Vera go, because that’s the only way she will be happy. The only problem is that he doesn’t need life without her. In his world, suicide is a completely natural step.

Princess Sheina understands this. She sincerely mourns Zheltkov, a man whom she practically did not know, but, oh my God, perhaps true love, which occurs once every hundred years, passed her by.

“I am eternally grateful to you just for the fact that you exist. I checked myself - this is not a disease, not a manic idea - this is love with which God was pleased to reward me for something... Leaving, I say in delight: “Hallowed be Thy name.”

Place in literature: Literature of the 20th century → Russian literature of the 20th century → Works of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin → The story “Garnet Bracelet” (1910)

The novel “The Garnet Bracelet” by A. Kuprin is rightfully considered one of the best, revealing the theme of love. The storyline is based on real events. The situation in which the main character of the novel found herself was actually experienced by the mother of the writer’s friend, Lyubimov. This work is named so for a reason. Indeed, for the author, “pomegranate” is a symbol of passionate, but very dangerous love.

The history of the novel

Most of A. Kuprin’s stories are permeated with the eternal theme of love, and the novel “The Garnet Bracelet” most vividly reproduces it. A. Kuprin began work on his masterpiece in the fall of 1910 in Odessa. The idea for this work was the writer’s visit to the Lyubimov family in St. Petersburg.

One day, Lyubimova’s son told an entertaining story about his mother’s secret admirer, who for many years wrote her letters with frank declarations of unrequited love. The mother was not delighted with this manifestation of feelings, because she had been married for a long time. At the same time, she had a higher social status in society than her admirer - a simple official P.P. Zheltikov. The situation was aggravated by a gift in the form of a red bracelet, given for the princess’s name day. At that time, this was a daring act and could put a bad shadow on the lady’s reputation.

Lyubimova’s husband and brother paid a visit to the fan’s home, he was just writing another letter to his beloved. They returned the gift to the owner, asking not to disturb Lyubimova in the future. None of the family members knew about the further fate of the official.

The story that was told at the tea party hooked the writer. A. Kuprin decided to use it as the basis for his novel, which was somewhat modified and supplemented. It should be noted that work on the novel was difficult, about which the author wrote to his friend Batyushkov in a letter on November 21, 1910. The work was published only in 1911, first published in the magazine “Earth”.

Analysis of the work

Description of the work

On her birthday, Princess Vera Nikolaevna Sheina receives an anonymous gift in the form of a bracelet, which is decorated with green stones - “garnets”. The gift was accompanied by a note, from which it became known that the bracelet belonged to the great-grandmother of the princess's secret admirer. The unknown person signed with the initials “G.S.” AND.". The princess is embarrassed by this present and remembers that for many years a stranger has been writing to her about his feelings.

The princess's husband, Vasily Lvovich Shein, and brother, Nikolai Nikolaevich, who worked as an assistant prosecutor, are looking for a secret writer. He turns out to be a simple official under the name Georgy Zheltkov. They return the bracelet to him and ask him to leave the woman alone. Zheltkov feels ashamed that Vera Nikolaevna could lose her reputation because of his actions. It turns out that he fell in love with her a long time ago, having accidentally seen her at the circus. Since then, he writes letters to her about unrequited love several times a year until his death.

The next day, the Shein family learns that official Georgy Zheltkov shot himself. He managed to write his last letter to Vera Nikolaevna, in which he asks for her forgiveness. He writes that his life no longer has meaning, but he still loves her. The only thing Zheltkov asks is that the princess not blame herself for his death. If this fact torments her, then let her listen to Beethoven’s Sonata No. 2 in his honor. The bracelet, which was returned to the official the day before, he ordered the maid to hang on the icon of the Mother of God before his death.

Vera Nikolaevna, having read the note, asks her husband for permission to look at the deceased. She arrives at the official's apartment, where she sees him dead. The lady kisses his forehead and places a bouquet of flowers on the deceased. When she returns home, she asks to play a piece by Beethoven, after which Vera Nikolaevna burst into tears. She realizes that “he” has forgiven her. At the end of the novel, Sheina realizes the loss of the great love that a woman can only dream of. Here she recalls the words of General Anosov: “Love should be a tragedy, the greatest secret in the world.”

Main characters

Princess, middle-aged woman. She is married, but her relationship with her husband has long grown into friendly feelings. She has no children, but she is always attentive to her husband and takes care of him. She has a bright appearance, is well educated, and is interested in music. But for more than 8 years she has been receiving strange letters from a fan of “G.S.Z.” This fact confuses her; she told her husband and family about it and does not reciprocate the writer’s feelings. At the end of the work, after the death of the official, she bitterly understands the severity of lost love, which happens only once in a life.

Official Georgy Zheltkov

A young man about 30-35 years old. Modest, poor, well-mannered. He is secretly in love with Vera Nikolaevna and writes about his feelings to her in letters. When the bracelet he had been given was returned to him and asked to stop writing to the princess, he commits an act of suicide, leaving a farewell note to the woman.

Vera Nikolaevna's husband. A good, cheerful man who truly loves his wife. But because of his love for constant social life, he is on the verge of ruin, which drags his family down.

The main character's younger sister. She is married to an influential young man, with whom she has 2 children. In marriage, she does not lose her feminine nature, loves to flirt, gambles, but is very pious. Anna is very attached to her older sister.

Nikolai Nikolaevich Mirza-Bulat-Tuganovsky

Brother of Vera and Anna Nikolaevna. He works as an assistant prosecutor, a very serious guy by nature, with strict rules. Nikolai is not wasteful, far from feelings of sincere love. It is he who asks Zheltkov to stop writing to Vera Nikolaevna.

General Anosov

An old military general, a former friend of the late father of Vera, Anna and Nikolai. A participant in the Russian-Turkish war, he was wounded. He has no family or children, but is close to Vera and Anna like his own father. He is even called “grandfather” in the Sheins’ house.

This work is full of different symbols and mysticism. It is based on the story of one man's tragic and unrequited love. At the end of the novel, the tragedy of the story takes on even greater proportions, because the heroine realizes the severity of loss and unconscious love.

Today the novel “The Garnet Bracelet” is very popular. It describes great feelings of love, sometimes even dangerous, lyrical, with a tragic ending. This has always been relevant among the population, because love is immortal. In addition, the main characters of the work are described very realistically. After the publication of the story, A. Kuprin gained high popularity.

The story of the great genius of love prose A.I. Kuprin “The Garnet Bracelet” can be interpreted in different ways, discussing who the real hero is here. The opinions of critics differ on this issue, some consider Zheltkov to be the hero, trying by any means to prove his love, but also to declare his existence, others prefer the heroine’s husband, who simply wants his wife to be happy. Analyzing the work according to plan will help you figure this out. This material can be used in preparation for the Unified State Exam in literature in 11th grade.

Brief Analysis

Year of writing— 1910

History of creation— The writer based the plot on a real story told to him by one of his friends.

Theme - The main theme of this story is love, unrequited and real.

Composition - The exposition begins with action introducing the characters of the story, followed by the beginning when Vera Nikolaevna receives a garnet bracelet as a gift. Features of the composition in the use of symbols and secret meanings. Here is the garden, which is described in a time of withering, and the short story, the bracelet itself, the main symbol is the Beethoven sonata, which is the leitmotif of the story. The action develops, Zheltkov dies, and the culminating moment is a Beethoven sonata, and the denouement.

Genre - It is difficult to determine the genre essence of “The Garnet Bracelet”. Based on its composition, consisting of thirteen chapters, it can be classified as a story, and the writer himself believed that “The Garnet Bracelet” is a story.

Direction - In the story, everything is subordinated to the direction of realism, where a slight touch of romanticism is felt.

History of creation

The story of the creation of the story has a real basis. Once upon a time, the writer was visiting a friend of his, where they were looking at family photographs. An acquaintance told a story that happened in his family. Some official fell in love with his mother, he wrote letters to her. One day this petty official sent his beloved woman some trinket as a gift. Having found out who this official was, they gave him a suggestion, and he disappeared from the horizon. Kuprin came up with the idea to embellish this story, covering the love theme in more detail. He added romantic notes, elevated the ending and created his “Garnet Bracelet”, leaving the essence of the story. The year the story was written was 1910, and in 1911 the story was published in print.

Subject

A Alexander Kuprin is considered the unsurpassed Russian genius of love prose; he created many works glorifying love in all its manifestations.

In “The Garnet Bracelet,” the analysis of the story is subordinated to this favorite theme of the author, the theme of love.

In essence, this work examines the moral issues of relationships associated with the love relationships of the heroes of the story. In this work, all events are connected with love, this is even the meaning of the title of this story, since the pomegranate is a symbol of love, a symbol of passion, blood and anger.

The writer, giving such a name to his title, immediately makes it clear what the main idea of ​​​​the story is devoted to.

He examines different forms of love, its different manifestations. Each person described by the writer has a different attitude towards this feeling. For some, it’s just a habit, social status, superficial well-being. For another, this is the only, real feeling, carried throughout life, for which it was worth living.

For the main character Zheltkov, love is a sacred feeling for which he lives, realizing that his love is doomed to be unrequited. The adoration of the woman he loves helps him endure all the hardships of life and believe in the sincerity of his feelings. Vera Nikolaevna for him is the meaning of his whole life. When Zheltkov was told that by his behavior he was compromising the woman he loved, the official concluded that problems of social inequality would always stand in his way to happiness, and committed suicide.

Composition

The composition of the story contains many secret meanings and symbols. The garnet bracelet gives a vivid definition of the all-consuming theme of passionate love, defining it as blood, making it clear that this love can be destructive and unhappy, anger led to Zheltkov’s suicide.

The fading garden reminds us of Vera Nikolaevna’s fading love for her husband. The drawings and poems in her husband’s family notes are the story of his love, sincere and pure, which has not undergone any changes throughout their life together. Despite her fading passion and cool attitude towards him, he continues to truly love his wife.

General Amosov prefers to share stories of love with his interlocutors, which is also symbolic. This is the only person in the work who correctly understands the true essence of love. He is a great psychologist, an expert on human souls, clearly seeing all their secret and obvious thoughts.

Beethoven's second sonata, the main symbol of the entire story, runs like a red thread through the entire work. The action develops against the background of music. The final sound of the sonata is a strong climax. Beethoven's work reveals all the understatements, all the innermost thoughts and feelings of the characters.

The beginning of the action - Vera Nikolaevna receives a gift. Development of the action - brother and husband go to sort things out with Zheltkov. The main character of the work, remaining aloof throughout the entire narrative, commits suicide. The climax is when Beethoven’s sonata sounds, and Vera Nikolaevna comes to an awareness of her life.

Kuprin masterfully ends his story, bringing all the actions to a denouement where the true power of love is revealed.

Under the influence of music, the sleeping soul of Vera Nikolaevna awakens. She begins to understand that she has lived, in essence, a purposeless and useless life, all the time creating the visible well-being of a happy family, and the true love that has accompanied her all her life has passed by.
What a writer’s work teaches, everyone decides in their own way; here everything depends on the reader. Only he decides in whose favor to make a choice.

Genre

The work of the great writer consists of thirteen chapters and belongs to the genre of the story. The writer believed that this was a story. The period of events taking place lasts for a long time, it involves a large number of characters, and it fully corresponds to the accepted genre.

Kuprin with his Garnet bracelet will be interesting for our reader's diary, which tells the story of one official and his love for a society lady. Kuprin's work, The Garnet Bracelet, touches on the theme of love, based on a plot from life.

Kuprin's story Garnet bracelet history

The history of the creation of the story Kuprin's Garnet Bracelet began in the fall of 1910, when the writer conceived his work, which was supposed to be a story. But Kuprin got carried away with writing and did not notice how the work grew and grew, and here the story of the creation of Kuprin’s Garnet Bracelet suggests that the story grew into a story. The story brought success to the author. What plot was taken from life?

Once Lyubimov told Kuprin a story about an official who fell in love with his mother. He constantly wrote letters, and then in one of the letters he sent a garnet bracelet, which was a daring act at that time. So Lyubimova’s fiance went to the fan’s home, where he wrote another letter. In the conversation, the men asked the fan not to write or appear in the life of Lyubimov’s mother anymore. The fan disappeared and no one else knew about his fate. Kuprin, having heard this story, decided to write his own work with his own ending.