25 pages • 50 minutes read
Alexander PushkinThe Queen Of Spades
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1834A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Literary Devices
Dramatic Irony
Dramatic irony occurs when the audience has more knowledge of a person or an event than the characters in the text. The effect is achieved through structure, in which the audience is given information early in the text that becomes relevant later. The audience can infer meaning from events or actions of characters that may be different from the inferences made by the characters themselves.
Dramatic irony is found throughout “The Queen of Spades.” One of the clearest examples is Tomsky’s comments at the ball. While dancing with Lizaveta, he makes a passing reference to a young officer who seems to have attracted Lizaveta’s attention. The audience knows that Lizaveta has invited Hermann into her bedroom, so the audience can empathize with Lizaveta’s fear that her plan has been exposed.
The dramatic irony is heightened when Tomsky remarks on Hermann’s character. He says that Hermann possesses “the profile of Napoleon and the soul of Mephistopheles” (26), though he frames the comments as a joke. When Tomsky makes these remarks, he is unaware that Hermann has become obsessed with the countess’s trick and has hatched a plan to gain access to the countess’s house. While Tomsky’s remarks are spoken in jest, the audience recognizes that they are more true than he could have known.
Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is a literary device that hints at what will happen later in a story. It can occur in a number of subtle or obvious ways. In “The Queen of Spades,” foreshadowing helps prepare the audience for Hermann’s downfall. Twice during the opening chapters, for example, he insists that he does not gamble what he cannot afford to lose. The second time, Hermann adds the caveat that he is by nature a gambler. The audience is given the impression that the character who does not gamble would do so if the right opportunity arose, and once he began he might be unable to stop. When Hermann learns the countess’s trick and goes to the card table, the audience knows he will be unable to exercise the required self-restraint.
Hermann’s downfall is also foreshadowed in the countess’s warning. After teaching him the secret of winning at faro, the ghost of the countess warns Hermann that he must “never play again” once he has used the trick (31). Her warning is ominous, foreshadowing what will happen if Hermann breaks the rule. The foreshadowing in the text suggests that Hermann’s fall was unavoidable, as each contributing factor is steadily established throughout the story.
Epigraphs
Epigraphs are short quotations placed at the beginning of a work of literature. The purpose of an epigraph is to establish a theme or an idea before the audience delves into the text. In “The Queen of Spades,” Pushkin includes a short epigraph at the beginning of each chapter. They are not quotations from other works of fiction, as is the case with many epigraphs. Instead, Pushkin uses idioms, conversation fragments, and verses that he has written. He gives these epigraphs in French (rather than Russian), and many translators leave the epigraphs in French, providing translations in the footnotes or appendixes.
The purpose of the epigraphs in “The Queen of Spades” is to establish the atmosphere around the aristocratic characters. Whether the characters are at a card game or ball, or sneaking into an aristocrat’s mansion, the epigraphs establish a gossipy, conversational tone. They also convey the way stories–such as the story of the countess’s trick or Hermann’s downfall–are shared in a community. Pushkin uses the epigraphs to suggest to the audience the way in which ghost stories or gossip items might spread, evolve, and change as they are passed from one person to the next.
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