Essay: What is love in the works of Kuprin. What does love mean in the life of the heroes of A.I. Kuprin’s works? What is love in Kuprin’s concept?

| Print |

One of the primary themes in Kuprin’s work is love. The characters in his creations, “illuminated” by a real strong feeling, open up more deeply. In the works of this wonderful writer, love, like a pattern, is selfless and selfless. Having analyzed a considerable number of his works, one can understand that in his work it is invariably tragic and condemned in advance to torment.

One of the highest values ​​in human life, according to A.I. Kuprin, has always been love. Love, which collects into a single bouquet all the best, all that is healthy and bright, with which life rewards a person, which justifies any hardships and hardships that may come along his way. So in "Oles". So in "Garnet Bracelet". So in Shulamith. So in "Duel". Until the end of his life, the writer retained the romantic mood of his youth in his soul, and this is what makes his works strong.

Many events take place before us on the pages of the story "The Duel". But the emotional culmination of the work was not tragic fate Romashov, and the night of love he spent with the insidious and therefore even more captivating Shurochka; and the happiness experienced by Romashov on this pre-duel night is so great that it is this alone that is conveyed to the reader.

The poetic and tragic story of a young girl in the story “Olesya” sounds in this vein. Olesya’s world is a world of spiritual harmony, a world of nature. He is alien to Ivan Timofeevich, a representative of a cruel, big city. Olesya attracts him with her “unusuality”, “there was nothing like the local girls in her”, the naturalness, simplicity and some kind of elusive inner freedom characteristic of her image attracted him to her like a magnet.

Olesya grew up among the forest. She could not read or write, but she had great spiritual wealth and a strong character. Ivan Timofeevich is educated, but indecisive, and his kindness is more like cowardice. These two completely different people fell in love with each other, but this love does not bring happiness to the heroes, its outcome is tragic.

Ivan Timofeevich feels that he has fallen in love with Olesya, he would even like to marry her, but he is stopped by doubt: “I didn’t even dare to imagine what Olesya would be like, dressed in a fashionable dress, talking in the living room with the wives of my colleagues, torn from the charming the framework of an old forest full of legends and mysterious powers." He realizes that Olesya will not be able to change, become different, and he himself does not want her to change. After all, to become different means to become like everyone else, and this is impossible.

The story “Olesya” develops the theme of Kuprin’s creativity - love as a saving force that protects the “pure gold” of human nature from “degradation”, from the destructive influence of bourgeois civilization. It is no coincidence that Kuprin’s favorite hero was a man of strong-willed, courageous character and noble, kind heart, capable of enjoying all the diversity of the world. The work is built on a comparison of two heroes, two natures, two worldviews. On the one hand, an educated intellectual, a representative of urban culture, the rather humane Ivan Timofeevich, on the other, Olesya, a “child of nature” who has not been influenced by urban civilization. Compared to Ivan Timofeevich, a man of a kind but weak, “lazy” heart, Olesya rises with nobility, integrity, and proud confidence in her strength. Freely, without any special tricks, Kuprin draws the appearance of the Polesie beauty, forcing us to follow the richness of her shades spiritual world, always original, sincere and deep. "Olesya" is Kuprin's artistic discovery. The writer showed us true beauty an innocent, almost childlike soul of a girl who grew up far from the noisy world of people, among animals, birds and forests. But along with this, Kuprin also highlights human malice, senseless superstition, fear of the unknown, the unknown. However, she triumphed over all this true love. A string of red beads is the last tribute to Olesya’s generous heart, the memory of “her tender, generous love.”

Poetizing life not limited by modern social and cultural frameworks, Kuprin sought to show the clear advantages of a “natural” person, in whom he saw spiritual qualities lost in civilized society. The meaning of the story is to affirm the high standard of man. Kuprin is looking for people in real, everyday life who are obsessed with a high feeling of love, who are able to rise, at least in their dreams, above the prose of life. As always, he turns his gaze to the “little” man. This is how the story “The Garnet Bracelet” arises, which tells
about refined all-encompassing love. This story is about hopeless and touching love. Kuprin himself understands love as a miracle, as a wonderful gift. The death of the official brought back to life a woman who did not believe in love, which means that love still conquers death.

In general, the story is dedicated to the inner awakening of Vera, her gradual awareness of the true role of love. To the sound of music, the heroine's soul is reborn. From cold contemplation to a hot, reverent feeling of oneself, a person in general, the world - such is the path of the heroine, who once came into contact with a rare guest of the earth - love.

For Kuprin, love is a hopeless platonic feeling, and also a tragic one. Moreover, there is something hysterical in the chastity of Kuprin’s heroes, and in their attitude towards their loved one, what is striking is that the man and woman seem to have swapped their roles. This is characteristic of the energetic, strong-willed “Polesie sorceress” Olesya in her relationship with the “kind, but only weak Ivan Timofeevich” and the smart, calculating Shurochka with the “pure and kind Romashov” (“The Duel”). Underestimation of oneself, disbelief in one’s right to own a woman, a convulsive desire to withdraw – these traits complete the picture of Kuprin’s hero with a fragile soul caught in a cruel world.

Increased affection for every human personality and mastery psychological analysis- the specificity of A.I. Kuprin’s artistic talent, which allowed him to absolutely explore the realistic heritage. The importance of his work lies in the artistically convincing discovery of the soul of his contemporary. The author analyzes love as a perfect moral and psychological feeling. The works of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin awaken the original questions of humanity - questions of love.

The stories created by Kuprin, despite the complexity of the circumstances and often tragic endings, are filled with love of life and optimism. You close the book you read with his stories, and for a long time the feeling of touching something light and clear remains in your soul for a long time.

Similar essays:
The duel of violence and humanism (based on Kuprin’s story “The Duel”) The meaning of the title of A. I. Kuprin’s story “The Duel” Works about love by A. I. Kuprin
We recommend:
Singer of sublime love (Based on Kuprin's stories "Pomegranate Bracelet", "Olesya", "Shulamith") Loneliness of love (A. I. Kuprin's story "Pomegranate Bracelet")

Garnet bracelet"">Next page

What is love in the works of Kuprin?

The theme of love is probably the most frequently touched upon in literature, and in art in general. It was love that inspired the greatest creators of all time to create immortal works. In the works of many writers, this theme is key, including A. I. Kuprin, whose three main works - “Olesya”, “Shulamith” and “Pomegranate Bracelet” - are dedicated to love, however, presented by the author in different manifestations.

There is probably no more mysterious, beautiful and all-consuming feeling, familiar to everyone without exception, than love, because from birth a person is already loved by his parents and he himself experiences, albeit unconsciously, reciprocal feelings. However, for everyone, love has its own special meaning; in each of its manifestations it is different and unique. In these three works, the author depicted this feeling from the perspective of different people and for each of them it has a different character, while its essence remains unchanged - it knows no boundaries.

In the story “Olesya,” written in 1898, Kuprin describes a remote village in the Volyn province, on the outskirts of Polesie, where fate brought Ivan Timofeevich, the “master,” an urban intellectual. Fate brings him together with the granddaughter of the local sorceress Manuilikha, Olesya, who fascinates him with her extraordinary beauty. This is the beauty not of a society lady, but of a wild fallow deer living in the lap of nature. However, it is not only appearance that attracts Ivan Timofeevich to Oles: The young man is delighted with the girl’s self-confidence, pride and audacity. Having grown up in the depths of the forests and hardly communicating with people, she is accustomed to treating strangers with great caution, but having met Ivan Timofeevich, she gradually falls in love with him. He captivates the girl with his ease, kindness, and intelligence, because for Olesya all this is unusual and new. The girl is very happy when a young guest often visits her. During one of these visits, she, fortune-telling by his hand, characterizes the reader as a man “although kind, but only weak,” and admits that his kindness is “not heartfelt.” That his heart is “cold, lazy,” and to the one he “will love him,” he will bring, albeit unwittingly, “a lot of evil.” Thus, according to the young fortune teller, Ivan Timofeevich appears before us as an egoist, a person incapable of deep emotional experiences. However, in spite of everything, young people fall in love with each other, completely surrendering to this all-consuming feeling. Falling in love, Olesya shows her sensitive delicacy, innate intelligence, observation and tact, her instinctive knowledge of the secrets of life. Moreover, her love reveals the enormous power of passion and dedication, revealing in her the great human talent of understanding and generosity. Olesya is ready to do anything for the sake of her love: go to church, enduring the bullying of the villagers, find the strength to leave, leaving behind only a string of cheap red beads, which are a symbol eternal love and devotion. For Kuprin, the image of Olesya is the ideal of an open, selfless, deep character. Love elevates her above those around her, giving her joy, but at the same time making her defenseless and leading to inevitable death. Compared to great love Olesya even loses Ivan Timofeevich’s feelings for her in many ways. His love is sometimes more like a passing hobby. He understands that the girl will not be able to live outside the nature that surrounds her here, but still, offering her his hand and heart, he implies that she will live with him in the city. At the same time, he does not think about the possibility of abandoning civilization, remaining to live for Olesya here, in the wilderness.

He resigns himself to the situation, without even making attempts to change anything, challenging the current circumstances. Probably, if it were true love, Ivan Timofeevich would have found his beloved, doing everything possible for this, but, unfortunately, he never realized what he had missed.

A. I. Kuprin also revealed the theme of mutual and happy love in the story “Sulamith,” which tells about the boundless love of the richest King Solomon and the poor slave Sulamith, who works in the vineyards. An unshakably strong and passionate feeling lifts them above material differences, erasing the boundaries that separate lovers, once again proving the strength and power of love. However, in the finale of the work, the author destroys the well-being of his heroes, killing Shulamith and leaving Solomon alone. According to Kuprin, love is a flash of light that reveals the spiritual value of the human personality, awakening in it all the best that is hidden for the time being in the depths of the soul.

Kuprin portrays a completely different kind of love in the story “The Garnet Bracelet.” The deep feeling of the main character Zheltkov, a petty employee, a “little man” for a society lady, Princess Vera Nikolaevna Sheina, brings him as much suffering and torment, since his love is unrequited and hopeless, as well as pleasure, since she elevates him, exciting his soul and giving joy. It’s more likely not even love, but adoration; it is so strong and unconscious that even ridicule does not detract from it. In the end, realizing the impossibility of his beautiful dream and having lost hope of reciprocity in his love, and also largely under the pressure of those around him, Zheltkov decides to commit suicide, but even at the last moment all his thoughts are only about his beloved, and even leaving this life, he continues to idolize Vera Nikolaevna, addressing her as if to a deity: “Hallowed be Your name". Only after the death of the hero, the one with whom he was so hopelessly in love realizes “that the love that every woman dreams of has passed her by,” it’s a pity that it’s too late. The work is deeply tragic, the author shows how important it is not only understand the other, but also, looking into your soul, perhaps find reciprocal feelings there. In “The Garnet Bracelet” there are words that “love must be a tragedy”; it seems to me that the author wanted to say that before a person realizes, spiritually reaches the level where love is happiness, pleasure, he must go through all the difficulties and adversities that are somehow associated with it.

Love in Kuprin's works is sincere, devoted and selfless. This is the kind of Love that everyone dreams of finding one day. Love, in the name and for which you can sacrifice anything, even own life. Love that will pass through any obstacles and barriers separating those who sincerely love, It will overcome evil, transforming the world and filling it with bright colors, and, most importantly, making people happy.

The theme of love in the works of A.I. Kuprin.

Love... Someday this feeling comes to everyone. There is probably no such person who would never love. He did not love his mother or father, woman or man, his child or friend. Love has the ability to resurrect, make people kinder, more soulful and humane. Without love there would be no life, for life itself is love. It was this all-consuming feeling that inspired A.S. Pushkin, M.Yu. Lermontov, L.N. Tolstoy, A.A. Blok, and in general, all the great writers and poets.

A slight wave of the quill pen and such wonderful poems and works as “I loved you...”, “Anna Karenina”, “They loved each other so long and tenderly...” appeared on the sheets of paper.

The 20th century gave us A.I. Kuprin, a writer in whose work the theme of love occupied one of the most important places. I especially admire this man - open, courageous, straightforward, noble. Most of Kuprin's stories are a hymn to pure, ideal, sublime love, which he wrote about throughout his life.

The writer keenly felt the need for “heroic plots”, for selfless, self-critical heroes. As a result, under the pen of Alexander Ivanovich, the most wonderful works were born: “Garnet Bracelet”, “Olesya”, “Shulamith” and many others.

The story “Olesya” was written in 1898 and was included in the cycle of Polesie works. In addition to the theme of love, A.I. Kuprin touches on no less than important topic interaction between the civilized and natural worlds.

From the very first pages of the work we find ourselves in a remote village in the Volyn province, on the outskirts of Polesie. It was here that fate brought Ivan Timofeevich, a literate, intelligent person. From his lips we learn about the wild customs of the Perbrod peasants. These people are illiterate, uncouth, and uncommunicative. It is clear from everything that they have not yet completely gotten rid of the habits of Polish serfdom.

Ivan Timofeevich is terribly bored in this place, where there is no one to talk to, where there is absolutely nothing to do. That is why Yarmola’s story about the old witch excited him so much. The young man is hungry for adventure, he wants to escape from the daily routine of village life, at least for a while.

During his next hunt, Ivan Timofeevich unexpectedly stumbles upon an old hut, where his first meeting takes place with Olesya, the granddaughter of the local witch Manuilikha. Olesya fascinates with her beauty. Not the beauty of a society lady, but the beauty of a wild fallow deer living in the lap of nature.

But it’s not just this girl’s appearance that attracts Ivan Timofeevich. The young man is admired by the self-confidence, pride, and audacity with which Olesya carries herself. That is why he decides to visit Manuilikha again. Olesya herself is also interested in the unexpected guest. Growing up in the forest, she had little contact with people and was accustomed to treating them with great caution. But Ivan Timofeevich captivates the girl with his ease, kindness, and intelligence. Olesya is very happy when the young guest comes to visit her again. It is she who, reading her hand, characterizes the main character as a person “although kind, but only weak,” and admits that his kindness is “not heartfelt.” His heart is “cold, lazy,” and to those who “will love him,” he will bring, albeit unwittingly, “a lot of evil.” Thus, in the words of the young fortune teller, the young man appears before us as an egoist, incapable of deep emotional experiences. But despite everything, Olesya and Ivan Timofeevich fall in love with each other and completely surrender to this feeling.

Olesya's love makes clear her sensitive delicacy, her special innate intelligence, observation and tact, her instinctive knowledge of the secrets of life. In addition, her love reveals the enormous power of passion and selflessness, and reveals in her the great human talent of understanding and generosity. Olesya is ready to give up her feelings, endure suffering and torment for the sake of her beloved and only one. Against the backdrop of all the people surrounding main character, her figure looks sublime and makes those around her look faded. The images of Polesie peasants become dull, spiritually enslaved, evil, and recklessly cruel. They have neither breadth of mind nor generosity of heart. And Olesya is ready to do anything for the sake of her love: go to church, endure the mockery of local residents, find the strength to leave, leaving behind only a string of cheap red beads, as a symbol of eternal love and devotion .For Kuprin, the image of Olesya is the ideal of a sublime, exceptional personality. This girl is an open, selfless, deep nature, the meaning of her life is love. She raises her above the level of ordinary people, she gives her happiness, but she also makes Olesya defenseless and leads to death.

The figure of Ivan Timofeevich also loses from its proximity to Olesya. His love is ordinary, sometimes even similar to infatuation. The young man, deep down in his soul, understands that his beloved will never be able to live outside of nature. He does not imagine Olesya in secular dress and yet offers her his hand and heart, implying that she will live with him in the city. Ivan Timofeevich does not even allow the thought of giving up his position in society for the sake of his love and remaining to live with Olesya in the forest. He completely comes to terms with what happened and is not going to fight for his love, challenge the current situation. I believe that if Ivan Timofeevich truly loved Olesya, he would definitely find her and try to change his life, but he Unfortunately, he never understood what kind of love passed him by.

The theme of mutual and happy love is touched upon by A.I. Kuprin in the story “Shulamith”. The love of King Solomon and the poor girl Shulamith from the vineyard is strong as death, and those who love themselves are higher than kings and queens.

But the writer kills the girl, leaving Solomon alone, because, according to Kuprin, love is a moment that illuminates the spiritual value of the human personality and awakens the best in it.

In one of famous works writer “Garnet Bracelet” sounds the theme of unrequited love as a great gift that transforms human soul. Princess Vera Sheina was a strict, independent, kind and “royally calm” woman who loved her husband. But the idyll in the house was destroyed after the appearance of a gift with a letter from “G.S.Zh”. Along with the message, selfless, selfless love, not expecting a reward, entered the house of the Shein princes: love is a mystery, love is a tragedy. The whole meaning of the life of Zheltkov, the sender of the message, was to love Vera Nikolaevna, without demanding anything in return, to praise his beloved from the bottom of his heart, uttering the words: “Hallowed be thy name.” The vague anxiety of Princess Vera after receiving a gift from Zheltkov grew into the bitterness of the loss of something lofty and beautiful at the last meeting with the already dead admirer: “At that second she understood that the love that every woman dreams of passed her by.” And Vera Nikolaevna cried, listening to Beethoven’s Second Sonata, knowing that she loved. Loved just for a moment, but forever.

In his stories A.I. Kuprin showed us sincere, devoted, selfless love. The love that every person dreams of. Love, for the sake of which you can sacrifice anything, even your life. Love that will survive millennia, overcome evil, make the world beautiful, and people kind and happy.

One of the highest values ​​in human life, according to A.I. Kuprin, has always been love. Love, which collects into a single bouquet all the best, all that is healthy and bright, with which life rewards a person, which justifies any hardships and hardships that may come along his way. So in “Oles”. So in “Garnet Bracelet”. So in “Shulamith”. So in “Duel”. Until the end of his life, the writer retained the romantic mood of his youth in his soul, and this is what makes his works strong.

Many events take place before us on the pages of the story “The Duel.” But the emotional culmination of the work was not the tragic fate of Romashov, but the night of love he spent with the insidious and therefore even more captivating Shurochka; and the happiness experienced by Romashov on this pre-duel night is so great that it is this alone that is conveyed to the reader.

The story “The Garnet Bracelet” makes us think about the enormous power of unrequited love. And the modest, inconspicuous telegraph operator suddenly appears before us as significant, great! After all, he carried this throughout his life pure love, worship of a woman. And the words will always sound like a prayer: “Hallowed be Thy name!”

According to Kuprin, a person who is close to nature is truly capable of love. He reveals this topic in an unusually interesting way in the story about the Polesie girl-witch. The main characters of the work are Olesya and Ivan Timofeevich. Olesya’s integral and spontaneous nature stands out for its richness inner world. It is rare to find a person so generously gifted by nature, who would combine naivety and authority, femininity and proud independence, touching courage and delicacy, and spiritual generosity. Together with the heroes of the story, we experience the anxious period of the birth of love and happy moments of pure, complete, all-consuming delight. The world of jubilant nature merges with wonderful human feeling. The bright, fairy-tale atmosphere of the story does not fade even after the tragic ending. Gossip and gossip, vile persecution of the clerk fade into the background. Great love triumphs over everything insignificant and evil, which is remembered without bitterness, “easily and joyfully.”

A. I. Kuprin - idealist, dreamer, singer sublime feeling. He found special, exceptional conditions that allowed him to create romanticized images of women and their ideal love. In his surroundings, A. Kuprin saw a sad waste of beauty, a crushing of feelings, and delusion of thought. The writer’s ideal went back to the victory of the strength of the spirit over the strength of the body and to “love faithful to death.” For Kuprin, love is the most consistent form of affirmation and identification of the personal principle in a person.

Protesting against cynicism, corrupt feelings, vulgarity, A. I. Kuprin created the story “Sulamith”. It was written based on the biblical “Song of Songs” by King Solomon. Solomon fell in love with a poor peasant girl, but because of the jealousy of Queen Astiz, whom he abandoned, she dies. Before her death, Shulamith says to her lover: “I thank you, my king, for everything: for your wisdom, to which you allowed me to cling to with my lips, like to a sweet source... There has never been and will never be a woman happier than me.” The main idea of ​​this work: love is as strong as death, and it alone, eternal, protects humanity from the moral degeneration that threatens it modern society.

A new return to the theme of great, all-consuming love took place in the story “The Garnet Bracelet.” The poor official Zheltkov, having once met Princess Vera Nikolaevna, fell in love with her with all his heart. This love leaves no room for other interests of the hero. Zheltkov kills himself so as not to interfere with the princess’s life, and, dying, thanks her for the fact that she was for him “the only joy in life, the only consolation, the only thought.” This story is not so much about love as it is a prayer to it. In his dying letter, the hero blesses his beloved: “As I leave, I say in delight: “Hallowed be Thy name!”

Kuprin especially singled out the figure of the old General Anosov, who is confident that high love exists, but it “... must be a tragedy, the greatest secret in the world,” which knows no compromises. Princess Vera, a woman, for all her aristocratic restraint, very impressionable, capable of understanding and appreciating beauty, felt that her life came into contact with this great love, sung by the best poets of the world. The love of the official Zheltkov is alien to that deep hiddenness in which noble modesty is intertwined with noble pride. “Be silent and perish”... This talent was not given to Zheltkov. But for him, too, the “magic shackles” turned out to be sweeter than life.

The story “Olesya” develops the theme of Kuprin’s creativity - love as a saving force that protects the “pure gold” of human nature from “degradation”, from the destructive influence of bourgeois civilization. It is no coincidence that Kuprin’s favorite hero was a man of strong-willed, courageous character and a noble, kind heart, capable of rejoicing in all the diversity of the world. The work is built on a comparison of two heroes, two natures, two worldviews. On the one hand, an educated intellectual, a representative of urban culture, the rather humane Ivan Timofeevich, on the other, Olesya, a “child of nature” who has not been influenced by urban civilization. Compared to Ivan Timofeevich, a man of a kind but weak, “lazy” heart, Olesya rises with nobility, integrity, and proud confidence in her strength. Freely, without any special tricks, Kuprin draws the appearance of the Polesie beauty, forcing us to follow the richness of shades of her spiritual world, always original, sincere and deep. “Olesya” is Kuprin’s artistic discovery. The writer showed us the true beauty of the innocent, almost childlike soul of a girl who grew up far from the noisy world of people, among animals, birds and forests. But along with this, Kuprin also highlights human malice, senseless superstition, fear of the unknown, the unknown. However, true love triumphed over all this. A string of red beads is the last tribute to Olesya’s generous heart, the memory of “her tender, generous love.”

The peculiarity of A. I. Kuprin’s artistic talent - an increased interest in each human personality and mastery of psychological analysis - allowed him to fully master the realistic heritage. The value of his work lies in the artistic and convincing revelation of the soul of his contemporary. The writer considers love as a deep moral and psychological feeling. The stories of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin raise the eternal problems of humanity - the problems of love.

And the heart burns and loves again - because

That it cannot help but love.

A. S. Pushkin

The work of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin is closely connected with the traditions of Russian realism.

The themes of this writer's works are extremely diverse. But Kuprin has one cherished theme. He touches her chastely and reverently. This is the theme of love.

For Kuprin, the true strength of man, capable of resisting the vulgarizing effects of false civilization, has always been selfless and pure love.

In the story “Shulamith,” the writer brilliantly glorifies the spiritual unity of lovers, which is so great that each is ready to sacrifice himself for the sake of the other. Therefore, the wise Solomon, who knew everything, and the young shepherdess Shulamith are equally great. They, capable of such a rare and harmonious feeling, are given the opportunity for moral elevation.

Kuprin looked for his ideal of love in contemporary life, but the writer never saw triumphant love, “strong as death.” Even Olesya from the story of the same name, who sacrificed herself in the name of her feelings for Ivan Timofeevich, could not awaken a high spiritual principle in him. And the power of love for Kuprin himself consisted precisely in the transformation of the soul. Olesya’s tragedy is that she fell in love with a “kind, but only weak” man.

You cannot hide anything from love: either it highlights the true nobility of the human soul, or vices and base desires. The writer seems to be testing his characters, sending them a feeling of love. In the words of one of the characters, Kuprin expresses his point of view: “Love should be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world! No life’s conveniences, calculations and compromises should concern it.” For a writer, she is a gift from God, not available to everyone. Love has its peaks, which only a few in a million can overcome. A specific example is Zheltkov from the story “The Garnet Bracelet”. The image of Zheltkov is revealed at the highest point of internal ascent. However, this state was preceded by internal development: first there were letters with an insistent desire for dates, the search for Vera Sheina’s gaze at balls and in the theater, and then silent “admiration,” but also the confidence that “seven years of hopeless polite love give the right” at least once in year to remind yourself. Zheltkov could not give his love to Vera Nikolaevna every day, every hour and every minute, so he gave her garnet bracelet, the most precious thing he had in order to somehow connect himself with Vera. He was incredibly happy just because the hands of his goddess would touch his gift.

The hero dies, but the greatness of his feeling lies in the fact that even after Zheltkov’s death it awakens the inner strength of Vera. Only during the farewell to Zheltkova’s ashes did Vera Nikolaevna “realize that the love that every woman dreams of had passed her by.” The reciprocal feeling took place, albeit “for one moment, but forever.”



Love as a force capable of transforming the world has always attracted Kuprin. But he was also very sensitive to the terrible processes of crushing, distortion, and death of this innate gift. Such a tragedy is shown in the story "The Pit". The author did not obscure the terrible truth, because he wanted to warn young people against moral decline, to awaken in their souls hatred of vice and the desire to resist it. Kuprin shows that the soul of the brothel dwellers is alive, and it is undoubtedly purer than that of those who come here.