The theme of love in the story “Garnet Bracelet. The theme of love in the story garnet bracelet Kuprin composition Attitude towards love yolk garnet bracelet

Kuprin's story "Garnet Bracelet" was published in 1907. It is based on real events from the family chronicles of the princes Tugan-Baranovsky. This story has become one of the most famous and profound works about love in Russian literature.
In the center of it is a story about the feelings of a petty official Zheltkov to the cold beauty Princess Vera Nikolaevna Sheina. Sheins are typical representatives of the Russian aristocracy of the early 20th century. The author notes that all members of this family were, to one degree or another, the imprint of degeneration.
So, the sister of Vera Nikolaevna, Anna Nikolaevna, was unhappy in marriage. An elderly and ugly husband did not attract her, and this still young woman sought consolation in numerous novels, from which, however, she also did not get what she wanted. From her unloved husband, Anna Nikolaevna had weak and ugly children, who also had a trace of degeneration.
Vera Nikolaevna's brother, Nikolai, was not married at all. He mockingly and contemptuously treated marriage and love, considering all this fiction and romantic tales. Yes, and Vera Nikolaevna herself experienced any kind of noble and sublime feelings for her husband, but not love.
Kuprin shows us that people have forgotten how to love. “.. love among people has taken such vulgar forms and has simply descended to some kind of everyday convenience, to a little entertainment,” - with these words of General Anosov, Kuprin conveys the current state of affairs to him.
And in this wretched and gray, in fact, reality, a bright ray of light appears - the love of a petty official Zheltkov for Princess Vera. At first, this feeling is perceived by the heroine's family in a completely negative way - not seriously, contemptuously and mockingly. Nikolai Nikolaevich is seething with indignation - how this plebeian dared to bother his sister! Vasily Lvovich, the husband of the princess, sees in this story just a funny incident, an incident.
So what is the love story of petty official Zheltkov? Kuprin describes it in sufficient detail to us in the story. First, we hear this story in a distorted, mockingly mocking form from Prince Shein, and the husband of Vera Nikolaevna speaks prophetically about the death of a small official. Then, gradually, as the action progresses, we learn about the real course of things.
G.S. Zheltkov served as an official of the control chamber. Once in his life (for sorrow or joy?) A fatal meeting took place - Zheltkov saw Vera Nikolaevna Sheina. He did not even talk to this young lady, who was still unmarried at that time. Yes, and how would he dare - their social position was too unequal. But a person is not subject to feelings of such power, he is not able to control the life of his heart. Love captured Zheltkov so much that it became the meaning of his entire existence. From the man's farewell letter, we learn that his feeling is "reverence, eternal admiration and slavish devotion."
In addition, it becomes known to us that the official watched Vera Nikolaevna, tried to go where she was in order to once again see the object of his adoration, breathe the same air with her, touch her things: “I mentally bow to the ground of furniture, on which you sit, the parquet you walk on, the trees you touch in passing, the servants you talk to.”
Vera Nikolaevna, and we, following her, begin to wonder - is this Zheltkov really crazy? Perhaps his passionate and deep passion was the result of a mental illness: “And what was it: love or madness?” But the hero himself answers this question in his last letter to the princess. He checked himself and concluded that his feeling is a gift from heaven, and not a disease. After all, Zheltkov does not claim the attention of his beloved, he felt good only from the realization that Vera Nikolaevna exists.
As a sign of his love, the official gives the princess the most valuable thing he has - a family jewel in the form of a garnet bracelet. Perhaps, materially, this bracelet was not of great value - plain, puffy, roughly processed. Its main decoration was five blood-red garnets, "diluted" with one green, located in the middle. “According to an old legend that has been preserved in our family, he tends to impart the gift of foresight to the women who wear it and drives away heavy thoughts from them, while he protects men from violent death,” Zheltkov wrote in an accompanying letter to this gift.
The official gave Vera Nikolaevna the most precious thing he had. I think that the princess, even forgiving her will, appreciated this gesture.
But Zheltkov's sacrificial and sublime love ended tragically - he voluntarily passed away so as not to interfere with Princess Sheina. This man put even his physical existence on the altar of high feeling. It is important that the hero did not tell anyone about love, did not seek the favor or attention of Vera Nikolaevna. He just lived, enjoying what fate gave him. And he passed away with a feeling of great gratitude for what he had experienced.
Kuprin shows that love of such strength and sacrifice could not but leave a mark on the souls of people involved in this story. In Vera Nikolaevna Zheltkov awakened longing and bright sadness for love, helped her to reveal her true needs. Not without reason, at the end of the story, listening to Beethoven's sonata, the heroine cries: "Princess Vera hugged the trunk of an acacia tree, clung to it and cried." It seems to me that these tears are the longing of the heroine for true love, which people so often forget about.
Even the husband of Vera Nikolaevna, Prince Shein, felt an involuntary respect for Zheltkov's feelings: “I feel sorry for this man. And I’m not only sorry, but now I feel that I am present at some enormous tragedy of the soul, and I can’t play around here.
Thus, the love given to the little official Zheltkov from above filled his life with meaning, became a source of light not only for this person, but also for those around him. The history of Zheltkov's feelings for Princess Vera once again confirmed that love is the main thing in a person's life. Without this feeling, life turns into a meaningless and empty existence, inevitably leading to death. Death of the soul and the divine spirit in us.

The works of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin entered the classics of Russian literature of the 20th century. The spiritual world of this writer is based on faith in man, natural energy, beauty. One of the cherished themes in his work was the theme of love, it sounds in most of his works, starting from the first stories. According to Kuprin, love is a feeling of high moral content, ennobling a person, giving wonderful moments, full of tragedy.

The writer considered love a test for compliance with the high rank of a person. He subjected, for example, the heroes of the story "Olesya" to this test, connecting with the heroine the dreams of a wonderful person, of a free and free life, merging with nature. One of Kuprin's most striking love stories is also "Garnet Bracelet".

The protagonist of the story, petty official Georgy Zheltkov, has been in love with Princess Vera Sheina for several years. At first, he wrote "daring" letters to her, waiting for an answer, but over time, his feelings turned into reverent, disinterested love. Vera got married, but Zheltkov continued to write to her, to congratulate her on the holidays. He did not expect reciprocal feelings, the hero had enough of his love for Vera: "I am infinitely grateful to you only for the fact that you exist."

On a name day, he gives her the most precious thing he had - a family heirloom, a garnet bracelet. In the story, the bracelet is a symbol of hopeless, enthusiastic, not expecting anything in return for love. In a note sent along with the jewelry, he explains that Vera is free to "throw away this funny toy", but the fact that her hands touched the bracelet is already happiness for the hero. The gift disturbed, excited Vera, something in her became ready to change.

There was a legend in the Zheltkov family that the bracelet protects men from violent death. George gives this protection to Vera. But the heroine is not yet able to understand that true love has touched her. Vera asks Zheltkov to leave her. Realizing that there can be no relationship between them, not wanting to disturb Vera with his existence, he sacrifices himself for the sake of her happiness.

Finally meeting George, who is no longer alive, saying goodbye to him, to the sounds of a Beethoven sonata, Vera realizes that her life has been touched by “exactly the kind of love that women dream of and that men are no longer capable of.” George's feelings awakened the heroine, revealed in her the ability to compassion, empathy, remaining in the mind of Vera as a memory of the eternal, the great, that she realized too late.

“Love must be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world!” - says Kuprin through the mouth of General Anosov. The author considered love to be God's gift, a feeling that few are capable of. In the story, this ability is granted to Georgy Zheltkov. The author endowed the hero with the talent of "disinterested", "selfless", "not waiting for a reward" love, "for which to accomplish any feat, to give one's life, to go to torment is not work at all, but one joy."

Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin is an outstanding Russian writer of the early 20th century. In his works, he sang love: genuine, sincere and real, not demanding anything in return. Far from every person is given to experience such feelings, and only a few are capable of seeing them, accepting and surrendering to them in the midst of the abyss of life events.

A. I. Kuprin - biography and creativity

Little Alexander Kuprin lost his father when he was only a year old. His mother, a representative of an old family of Tatar princes, made a fateful decision for the boy to move to Moscow. At the age of 10, he entered the Moscow Military Academy, the education he received played a significant role in the writer's work.

Later, he will create more than one work dedicated to his military youth: the writer's memoirs can be found in the stories "At the Break (Cadets)", "Army Ensign", in the novel "Junkers". For 4 years, Kuprin remained an officer in an infantry regiment, but the desire to become a novelist never left him: the first known work, the story "In the Dark", Kuprin wrote at the age of 22. The life of the army will be reflected more than once in his work, including in his most significant work, the story "Duel". One of the important themes that made the writer's works classics of Russian literature was love. Kuprin, masterfully wielding a pen, creating incredibly realistic, detailed and thoughtful images, was not afraid to demonstrate the realities of society, exposing its most immoral sides, as, for example, in the story "The Pit".

The story "Garnet Bracelet": the history of creation

Kuprin began work on the story in difficult times for the country: one revolution ended, the funnel of another began to spin. The theme of love in Kuprin's work "Garnet Bracelet" is created in opposition to the mood of society, it becomes sincere, honest, disinterested. "Garnet Bracelet" became an ode to such love, a prayer and a requiem for it.

The story was published in 1911. It was based on a real story, which made a deep impression on the writer, Kuprin almost completely preserved it in his work. Only the final was changed: in the original, Zheltkov's prototype renounced his love, but remained alive. The suicide that ended Zheltkov's love in the story is just another interpretation of the tragic ending of incredible feelings, which makes it possible to fully demonstrate the destructive power of the callousness and lack of will of the people of that time, which is what the "Garnet Bracelet" tells about. The theme of love in the work is one of the key ones, it is worked out in detail, and the fact that the story is based on real events makes it even more expressive.

The theme of love in Kuprin's work "Garnet Bracelet" is at the center of the plot. The main character of the work is Vera Nikolaevna Sheina, the wife of the prince. She constantly receives letters from a secret admirer, but one day a fan presents her with an expensive gift - a garnet bracelet. The theme of love in the work begins precisely here. Considering such a gift indecent and compromising, she told her husband and brother about it. Using their connections, they easily find the sender of the gift.

It turns out to be a modest and petty official Georgy Zheltkov, who, having accidentally seen Sheina, fell in love with her with all his heart and soul. He contented himself with allowing himself to occasionally write letters. The prince appeared to him with a conversation, after which Zheltkov felt that he had let down his pure and immaculate love, had betrayed Vera Nikolaevna, having compromised her with his gift. He wrote a farewell letter, where he asked his beloved to forgive him and listen to Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 2 in parting, and then shot himself. This story alarmed and interested Sheina, she, having received permission from her husband, went to the apartment of the late Zheltkov. There, for the first time in her life, she experienced those feelings that she had not recognized for all eight years of the existence of this love. Already at home, listening to that very melody, she realizes that she has lost her chance for happiness. This is how the theme of love is revealed in the work “Garnet Bracelet”.

Images of the main characters

The images of the main characters reflect the social realities not only of that time. These roles are characteristic of humanity as a whole. In pursuit of status, material well-being, a person again and again refuses the most important thing - a bright and pure feeling that does not need expensive gifts and big words.
The image of Georgy Zheltkov is the main confirmation of this. He's not rich, he's unremarkable. This is a modest person who does not require anything in return for his love. Even in his suicide note, he indicates a false reason for his act, so as not to bring trouble to his beloved, who indifferently refused him.

Vera Nikolaevna is a young woman accustomed to living exclusively in accordance with the foundations of society. She does not shy away from love, but does not consider it a vital necessity. She has a husband who was able to give her everything she needed, and she does not consider the existence of other feelings possible. This happens until she encounters the abyss after the death of Zheltkov - the only thing that can excite the heart and inspire turned out to be hopelessly missed.

The main theme of the story "Garnet Bracelet" is the theme of love in the work

Love in the story is a symbol of the nobility of the soul. Callous Prince Shein or Nikolai does not have this; Vera Nikolaevna herself can be called callous - until the moment of the trip to the apartment of the deceased. Love was the highest manifestation of happiness for Zheltkov, he did not need anything else, he found the bliss and magnificence of life in his feelings. Vera Nikolaevna saw only a tragedy in this unrequited love, her admirer only aroused pity in her, and this is the main drama of the heroine - she was not able to appreciate the beauty and purity of these feelings, this is noted by every essay based on the work "Garnet Bracelet". The theme of love, interpreted in different ways, will invariably be found in every text.

Vera Nikolaevna herself committed the betrayal of love when she took the bracelet to her husband and brother - the foundations of society turned out to be more important for her than the only bright and disinterested feeling that took place in her emotionally meager life. She realizes this too late: that feeling that occurs once every few hundred years has disappeared. It touched her lightly, but she couldn't see the touch.

Love that leads to self-destruction

Kuprin himself earlier in his essays somehow expressed the idea that love is always a tragedy, it contains equally all emotions and joys, pain, happiness, joy and death. All these feelings were placed in one little man, Georgy Zheltkov, who saw sincere happiness in unrequited feelings for a cold and inaccessible woman. His love had no ups and downs until brute force in the person of Vasily Shein interfered with it. The resurrection of love and the resurrection of Zheltkov himself symbolically takes place at the moment of Vera Nikolaevna's insight, when she listens to the very music of Beethoven and cries at the acacia tree. Such is the "Garnet Bracelet" - the theme of love in the work is full of sadness and bitterness.

The main conclusions from the work

Perhaps the main line is the theme of love in the work. Kuprin demonstrates the depth of feelings that not every soul is able to understand and accept.

Love for Kuprin requires the rejection of morals and norms forcibly imposed by society. Love does not need money or a high position in society, but it requires much more from a person: disinterestedness, sincerity, complete dedication and selflessness. I would like to note the following, finishing the analysis of the work "Garnet Bracelet": the theme of love in it makes one renounce all social values, but in return it gives true happiness.

Cultural heritage of the work

Kuprin made a huge contribution to the development of love lyrics: "Garnet Bracelet", analysis of the work, the theme of love and its study became mandatory in the school curriculum. This work has also been filmed several times. The first film based on the story was released 4 years after its publication, in 1914.

Them. N. M. Zagursky in 2013 staged the ballet of the same name.

The theme of love in the story of A. I. Kuprin "Garnet Bracelet"

(“The disease of love is incurable…”)

Love ... is stronger than death and the fear of death. Only it, only love keeps and moves life.

I.S. Turgenev.

Love... A word denoting the most reverent, tender, romantic and inspirational feeling inherent in a person. However, people often confuse love with falling in love. The real feeling takes possession of the whole being of a person, sets in motion all his forces, inspires the most incredible deeds, evokes the best motives, excites the creative imagination. But love is not always joy, mutual feeling, happiness given to two. It is also the disappointment of unrequited love. A person cannot fall out of love at will.

Every great artist has devoted many pages to this "eternal" theme. A. I. Kuprin did not bypass her either. The writer throughout his work showed great interest in everything beautiful, strong, sincere and natural. He attributed love to the great joys of life. His novels and stories "Olesya", "Shulamith", "Garnet Bracelet" tell about ideal love, pure, boundless, beautiful and powerful.

In Russian literature, perhaps, there is no work more powerful in terms of emotional impact on the reader than The Garnet Bracelet. Kuprin touches on the theme of love chastely, reverently and at the same time nervously. Otherwise, you can't touch her.

Sometimes it seems that everything has been said about love in world literature. Is it possible to talk about love after "Tristan and Isolde", after the sonnets of Petrarch and "Romeo and Juliet" by Shakespeare, after Pushkin's poem "For the shores of the distant homeland", Lermontov's "Do not laugh at my prophetic longing", after "Anna Karenina" by Tolstoy and Chekhov's "Ladies with a Dog" But love has thousands of aspects, and each of them has its own light, its own joy, its own happiness, its own sadness and pain, and its own fragrance.

The story "Garnet Bracelet" is one of the saddest works about love. Kuprin admitted that he cried over the manuscript. And if the work makes the author and the reader cry, then this speaks of the deep vitality of what was created by the writer and of his great talent. Kuprin has many works about love, about the expectation of love, about its touching outcomes, about its poetry, longing and eternal youth. He always and everywhere blessed love. The theme of the story "Garnet Bracelet" is love to self-abasement, to self-denial. But it is interesting that love strikes the most ordinary person - the clerical official Zheltkov. Such love, it seems to me, was granted to him from above as a reward for a joyless existence. The hero of the story is no longer young, and his love for Princess Vera Sheina gave meaning to his life, filled it with inspiration and joy. This love was the meaning and happiness only for Zheltkov. Princess Vera considered him mad. She did not know his last name and had never seen the man. He only sent her greeting cards and wrote letters, signing G.S.Zh.

But one day, on the princess's name day, Zheltkov decided to be bold: he sent her an old-fashioned bracelet with beautiful garnets as a gift. Fearing that her name might be compromised, Vera's brother insists on returning the bracelet to its owner, and her husband and Vera agree.

In a fit of nervous excitement, Zheltkov confesses to Prince Shein his love for his wife. This confession touches to the depths of the soul: “I know that I can never stop loving her. What would you do to end this feeling? Send me to another city? All the same, I will love Vera Nikolaevna there as well as here. Jail me? But even there I will find a way to let her know about my existence. Only one thing remains - death ... ”Love over the years has become a disease, an incurable disease. She absorbed his entire essence without a trace. Zheltkov lived only for this love. Even though Princess Vera did not know him, even if he could not reveal his feelings to her, could not possess her ... This is not the main thing. The main thing is that he loved her with a sublime, platonic, pure love. It was enough for him just to see her sometimes and know that she was doing well.

The last words of love for the one that was the meaning of his life for many years, Zheltkov wrote in his suicide letter. It is impossible to read this letter without heavy spiritual excitement, in which the refrain sounds hysterically and amazingly: “Hallowed be thy name!” The story is given special strength by the fact that love appears in it as an unexpected gift of fate, poeticized and illuminating life. Lyubov Zheltkova is like a ray of light in the midst of everyday life, in the midst of sober reality and settled life. There is no cure for such love, it is incurable. Only death can serve as salvation. This love is closed in one person and carries a destructive force. “It so happened that I am not interested in anything in life: neither politics, nor science, nor philosophy, nor worries about the future happiness of people,” Zheltkov writes in a letter, “for me, all life lies in you.” This feeling displaces all other thoughts from the consciousness of the hero.

The autumn landscape, the silent sea, empty dachas, the grassy smell of the last flowers also give special strength and bitterness to the narration.

Love, according to Kuprin, is a passion, it is a strong and real feeling that elevates a person, awakens the best qualities of his soul; it is truthfulness and honesty in relationships. The writer put his thoughts about love into the mouth of General Anosov: “Love must be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world. No comforts of life, calculations and compromises should concern her.”

It seems to me that today it is almost impossible to meet such love. Lyubov Zheltkova - romantic worship of a woman, chivalrous service to her. Princess Vera realized that true love, which is given to a person only once in a lifetime and which every woman dreams of, passed her by.

Kuprin can be called a singer of sublime love, who gave the world three stories: "Garnet Bracelet", "Olesya" and "Shulamith". Protesting against vulgarity and cynicism, the sale of feelings, zoological manifestations of instincts, the writer creates examples of ideal love, individual in beauty and strength.
The story "Garnet Bracelet" has a very real basis. However, Kuprin's talent turned a concrete fact of life into a story about which the best minds and souls of mankind have been dreaming and yearning for centuries: poets, novelists, musicians, artists.
A petty official, a lonely and timid dreamer, hopelessly in love with a young secular lady. Princess Vera. An unrequited romance has been going on for eight years. In the beloved woman for Zheltkov, all the beauty of the earth is embodied: “there is no beast, no plant, no man, more beautiful than you and more tender,” he writes in a farewell letter to her. Letters from a lover serve as subjects of ridicule from members of Vera Nikolaevna's family, and a gift sent to lovers - a garnet bracelet - causes a storm of indignation, and only old General Anosov guesses the true motives: “Maybe your true path, Vera, was crossed precisely by such a love that they dream of women and which men are no longer capable of.
The love of a little man ends tragically - he dies. His spiritual vow was the words: "Silence and perish." But he breaks it, reminding himself of the only and inaccessible: “death does not frighten the hero, love is stronger than death,” which is why he blesses his beloved: “Hallowed be thy name.”
Love for the writer is the basis of everything that exists: “Love must be a tragedy, the greatest mystery in the world. And no vital inconveniences, calculations and compromises should concern her.” Love allows the heroes to rise above everyday life, vanity. In a letter, Kuprin wrote: “Individuality is expressed not in strength, not in dexterity, not in mind, not in talent, but in love.”