A Look Into Russian Society Through Pushkin

Peter Radzikowski
Professor Nakhimovsky
February 25, 2008

A Look Into Russian Society Through Pushkin
In order to grasp the irony and to understand the social commentary that exists in Alexander Pushkin’s “The Queen of Spades”, it is important to realize the magnitude of gambling in Russia’s culture at the time. Helfant eloquently states this fact, “Gambling [serves] as an index of character in nineteenth-century Russia.”   Pushkin’s story acts as venue for Pushkin to comment on this prevalence on gambling in Russian youth culture. He primarily achieves this goal through the use of character of Hermann. His character provides an insight into Russian youth and the vices that plague them. In the story, he undergoes great changes in character and virtue due to his obsession with gambling and more importantly, figuring out how to win at gambling. This obsession stems from a story that his friend’s grandmother possesses the knowledge of some supernatural winning card combination that will bring him otherwise unattainable wealth. Furthermore it is important to note that Pushkin himself was a gambler in his youth and fell under the same spell he denounces in the story. This is the main source of irony in the story. Helfant states that in his lackluster gambling career, Pushkin had amounted debts of approximately 80,000 rubles and that he had maintained the belief he considered “the passion for gambling is the strongest of passions.”   I believe that the character of Hermann is loosely based on a younger version of himself and the struggles the character encounters are the similar to those he had earlier in life.
In the beginning of the story, the reader is shown a scene of Russian officers gambling. This is where we are first introduced to Hermann, the russianized-german engineer. He is sitting watching the card game, but does not play. “Gambling is of great interest to me,” he says, “but I am not in a position to sacrifice what is necessary to me in the hope of...