The Queen of Spades (story)

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The Queen of Spades (Russian: "Пиковая дама") is an acclaimed 1833 short story by Alexander Pushkin about human avariciousness. It was turned into the opera The Queen of Spades by Tchaikovsky.

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Pushkin's story tells of the Russianized German card player, Hermann--an engineer in the army in Russia--who becomes obsessed with the secret of three consecutive winning cards after hearing a story about an old countess' winnings years prior. His obsession drives him to manipulate the countess' ward, Lizaveta Ivanovna, into letting him into their home. There, in his desperation to obtain the secret of the three cards, Hermann accosts the countess. She first tells him that that story was a joke. Unwilling to believe her, Hermann's tactics escalate from begging to threatening the 80-some year old countess; frightening her to death. During a visit to the countess' funeral, Hermann is terrified to see the countess open her eyes in the coffin and look at him. He runs back to his flat, only to be visited by the ghost of the countess later that night. The ghost names the secret three cards, the rules of the bet and then orders him to marry Liza. Hermann takes his entire savings to a card game, where the first two cards (named by countess) win him a fortune. Hermann thinks he will win the last game as well because he plays the ace. However, Hermann somehow ends up playing the Queen of Spades, rather than the ace, and therefore loses. He ends up committed to room number 17 at an asylum, where "he doesn't answer any questions and he keeps muttering with extraordinary rapidity, 'Three, seven, ace! Three, seven, queen!'"