Extracting Meaning From The Game: Symbolism and Secrets In Pushkin's The Queen of Spades
Pushkin defines success and failure in life through the metaphor of a card game.
In Pushkin?s The Queen of Spades, a card game exists as metaphor for life. Within this card game of life, all of mankind exists as players. Although fate deals the cards to each individual, the ultimate freedom as to the way in which one plays those cards resides within each individual. Hermann?s choices within {The Queen of Spades }may be thought of as indicative of the way in which Pushkin feels one can lose at the game of life. Upon examining the tactics utilized by Hermann to secure possession of the ?winning secret?, one may conclude that those are representative of the unsuccessful strategies people employ in attempting to realize their goals in life.
The story?s protagonist, Hermann, notoriously abstains from playing in the card game with his friends. Upon questioning as to his eschewal, he states that he is not ?in a position to sacrifice the necessary in the hope of gaining the superfluous? (Pushkin 79). His abstinence from the card games mirrors that of his abstinence from the ?game? of life. Just as he fails to participate in the card game, he fails to be an active participant in life. His statement that he doesn?t wish to risk the ?necessary? in hopes of the ?superfluous? exhibits how Hermann views life: he prefers sitting on the sidelines and watching from a safe distance. To Hermann, gaining experience in life and truly living are not ?necessary?, but merely ?superfluous?, to one?s existence. This inherent attitude resounds throughout the work. Because of his fear of opening himself to risks, and hence life, he fails to recognize the opportunities fate deals him to gain love. He blindly passes them up for the ?necessary? acquisition of the secret. Although Hermann refuses to take risks in card playing and in life, he views the winning secret of the Countess as a risk-free venture. True relationships, though, constitute risk, and are therefore avoided by Hermann. The only factor that compels him to consider playing cards is his acquisition of the knowledge of a ?winning secret? that successfully won others? their fortunes. Inspired by their success, Hermann resolves to extract the secret from the rich old Countess so that he can gain his own wealth. Hermann convinces himself of the flawlessness of the elusive secret, and that once he gains it, he will finally obtain financial freedom and all of the ?necessaries? in life.
Hermann?s consumption with gaining the ?winning secret? from the countess not only fails to attain the wealth and contentment he desires, it leaves a path of destruction affecting the other characters. His oblivion to his obsession leads him to kill the countess and toss Lisaveta aside without so much as a second thought. Although Hermann?s goal in itself is not malicious, his avaricious actions on the path to securing his prized secret blind him to any other opportunities fate deals him and lead to his utter failure in the end. The encounter in which Lisaveta and Hermann discover each other through the window may have presented Hermann with an unexpected chance at love. However, Hermann chose to see Lisaveta merely as a pawn in his struggle to acquire his desired end. Because of his consumption of greed, he remains blinds him to his own ?cards? fate has dealt him. He is so consumed with attempting to see the countess?s hand that he has no time left to look at his own hand.
Hermann receives another opportunity in which he may play his cards right and desist from his obsession with the Countess and her secret. Lisaveta?s note directs him into the Countess?s home and into a ?screen in front of two little doors? where he must choose between Lisaveta?s door on the left and the Countess?s on the right. Although he slightly pauses in the decision, he ultimately chooses the Countess?s door. Thus, he chose greed over love. This scene seems a parody to the scene of the final card game with Chekalinsky in which Hermann must make a final play of his cards to determine his fate. He possesses both the Ace and the Queen and must choose the ?winning card?. Although he meant to play the Ace, he, in fact, played the Queen of Spades. He looks at the card he played and ?could hardly believe his eyes? (107). He undoubtedly believed he played the Ace, but his passion for winning blinded him as to which was the ?right? or ?wrong? card to play, thus mirroring his actions throughout the work in which he lost sight of right and wrong.
Throughout the story, Hermann?s involvement in the card game stems more from attempting to win it than attempting to learn how to play it. His main concern lies in obtaining the secret from the Countess. Winning so consumes him that he fails to appreciate the game itself. In Hermann?s demise, perhaps one may infer the theory that one attempts to live life by ?beating? it, failure is inevitable. Although Hermann gains possession of the secret, he fails to win the game. His failure to distinguish between the ?right? and ?wrong? cards within his own hand symbolizes his utter failure to do the same within life. His consumption with winning monopolized every aspect of his life
He viewed all aspects of his life in terms of the ?winning secret?. He called young girls a ?three of hearts?; he looked at time as if it were always ?five minutes to the seven?, and every ?paunchy man he came across reminded him of the Ace?(104).
It is important to note that Hermann?s defeat stems from his own choices. In the end, fate did not beat Hermann in the game; he played the Queen himself. He allowed his mind and being to become consumed by winning, and therefore, he closed off his possibilities to life. The work states, ?Two fixed ideas cannot exist simultaneously in our moral nature any more than two bodies can occupy one and the same place in the physical world? (104). Here, Pushkin may be thought of as explaining the metaphor of the game of cards in relation to the game of life. If one becomes obsessed with winning, his mind cannot focus on living. Therefore, Hermann?s failure may be explained in terms of his allowing his desire to win spiral into zealotry and take control of his life. Through the secret of the cards, Pushkin exhibits the importance of living our lives, and the dire consequences that accompany obsessing over attempting to control and win it. In the game of life, if one keeps his eye on the scoreboard, he can?t keep it on the ball.
The overall theme of the work extracted from the demise of Hermann resides in his path to that failure. His consumption with winning the game of life, while failing to actually be a player in it, resulted in his inability to be an effective player once he actually entered the game. Pushkin means to convey through Hermann?s failure that in order to ?play? successfully in life, one must live.
