The Use of Numbers in The Queen of Spades Essay -- The Queen of Spades

The Use of Numbers in The Queen of Spades The use of numbers, specially the triad and to a lesser extent the seven, is of major(ip) importance in Alexander Pushkins The Queen of Spades. The use of three permeates the text in some(prenominal) ways, these being major, minor, and in reference to time. According to Alexandr Slonimsky in an essay indite in 1922, A notion of the grouping of three is dominant... (429). In the major details of the floor, we find three fantastic moments (Slonimsky 429), three cards, three major catastrophes, three main characters, and the use of six chapters, six being a multiple of three. The three fantastic moments are the story of Tomsky (Chapter 1), the vision of Hermann (Chapter 5), and the fantastic win (Chapter 6) (429). These three moments form the backbone of the story. In Tomskys story, one maiden reads of the three cards guaranteed to produce a winner at the risque of faro. What makes this sequent fantastic in relation to the story is the importance of the story to the events that follow when contrasted to the nonchalant attitude attributed to those in attendance. The second fantastic incident is that of the appearance of the dead Countess to Hermann. This incident is fantastic in that the three cards named by the Countess are actually the winning cards, meaning the Countess is an apparition and not simply a dream. The final fantastic incident occurs when Hermann miraculously wins at the faro table the first time. The reader now knows, beyond a butt of a doubt, the three are magic cards. The particular significance of the three cards is shown in the rhythmic quality of Hermanns thoughts (Slonimsky 429). In looking at the original text, the rhythmic quality is much more appa... ...the greatest of the mere literary tradition and is also considered to be one of the triumvirate of great Russian literature. As concerns The Queen of Spades, D.S. Mirsky has this to say, The Queen of Spades is beyond a doubt Pushkins chef-doeuvre in prose (436). Works Cited Mirsky, D.S. Title unknown. 1926. Nineteenth Century belles-lettres comment Volume 3. Ed. Laurie Lanzen Harris. Detroit Gale Research Company, 1983. Pushkin, Alexander. The Queen of Spades. 1834. Trans. Ivy and Tatiana Litvinov. Literature of the Western World, trey Edition, Volume Two. Ed. Brian Wilkie and James Hurt. New York Macmillin, 1992. 870-890. Slonimsky, Alexandr. Title Unknown. 1922. Nineteenth Century Literature Criticism Volume Three. Ed. Laurie Lanzen Harris. Detroit Gale Research Company, 1983.