In the works of A. Kuprin we encounter selfless love that does not require reward. The writer believes that love is not a moment, but an all-consuming feeling that can consume life.

In "Garnet Bracelet" we encounter Zheltkov's true love. He is happy because he loves. It doesn’t matter to him that Vera Nikolaevna doesn’t need him. As I. Bunin said: “All love is great happiness, even if it is not shared.” Zheltkov simply loved, without demanding anything in return. His whole life was about Vera Shein; he enjoyed every thing she had: a forgotten handkerchief, an art exhibition program that she once held in her hand. His only hope was letters, with the help of them he communicated with his beloved. He wanted only one thing, for her gentle hands to touch a piece of his soul - a sheet of paper. As a sign of his fiery love, Zheltkov gave the most expensive thing - a garnet bracelet.

The hero is by no means pathetic, and the depth of his feelings, the ability to sacrifice himself deserves not only sympathy, but also admiration. Zheltkov rises above the entire society of the Sheins, where true love would never arise. They can only laugh at the poor hero, drawing caricatures, reading his letters. Even in a conversation with Vasily Shein and Mirza - Bulat - Tuganovsky, he finds himself in a moral gain. Vasily Lvovich recognizes his feeling and understands his suffering. He is not arrogant when communicating with the hero, unlike Nikolai Nikolaevich. He carefully examines Zheltkov, carefully places a red case with a bracelet on the table - he behaves like a true nobleman.

The mention of the power of Mirza - Bulat - Tuganovsky causes a fit of laughter in Zheltkov, he does not understand how the authorities can forbid him to love?!!

The hero’s feeling embodies the entire idea of ​​true love expressed by General Anosov: “Love for which to accomplish any feat, to give one’s life, to go to torment is not work at all, but one joy.” This truth, spoken by a “remnant of antiquity,” tells us that only exceptional people, like our hero, can possess the gift of such love, “strong as death.”

Anosov turned out to be a wise teacher; he helped Vera Nikolaevna understand the depth of Zheltkov’s feelings. “At six o’clock the postman came,” Vera recognized the gentle handwriting of Pe Pe Zhe. This was his last letter. It was imbued through and through with the holiness of feeling; there was no bitterness of farewell in it. Zheltkov wishes his beloved happiness with another, “and let nothing worldly disturb your soul,” he probably also attributed himself to something everyday in her life. I can’t help but remember Pushkin’s words: “I don’t want to sadden you with anything.”

No wonder Vera Nikolaevna, looking at the dead Zheltkov, compares him with great people. Just like them, the hero had a dream, a strong will, just like them he could love. Vera Shein realized what kind of love she had lost, and, listening to a Beethoven sonata, she realized that Zheltkov was forgiving her. “Hallowed be thy name” is repeated five times in her mind, like the five components of a garnet bracelet...

It’s not for nothing that A.I. Kuprin’s story “” is a great work about a feeling that can neither be bought nor sold. This feeling is called love. Anyone can experience the feeling of love, regardless of their position in society, rank or wealth. In love there are only two concepts: “I love” and “I don’t love.”

Unfortunately, in our time it is increasingly rare to meet a person who is obsessed with the feeling of love. Money rules the world, pushing tender feelings into the background. More and more young people are thinking about a career first, and only then about starting a family. Many people marry for convenience. This is done only to ensure a comfortable existence.

In his work, Kuprin, through the mouth of General Anosov, laid down his attitude towards love. The general compared love with a great mystery and tragedy. He said that no other feelings or needs should be mixed with the feeling of love.

Ultimately, “not love” became a tragedy for the main character of the story, Vera Nikolaevna Sheina. According to her, there have been no warm loving feelings between her and her husband for a long time. Their relationship resembled a strong, faithful friendship. And this suited the spouses. They didn’t want to change anything, because it was convenient to live this way.

Love is a wonderful, but at the same time dangerous feeling. A man in love loses his mind. He begins to live for the sake of his lover or beloved. A person in love sometimes commits inexplicable actions that can have tragic results. A loving person becomes defenseless and vulnerable from external threats. Unfortunately, love cannot protect us from external problems; it does not solve them. Love brings happiness to a person only when it is mutual. Otherwise, love becomes a tragedy.

Zheltkov’s feelings for Vera Nikolaevna became the biggest tragedy in his life. Unrequited love ruined him. He put his beloved above everything in his life, but, not seeing reciprocity, he committed suicide.

Millions of works have been written about love. This multifaceted feeling has been sung by poets and writers, artists and performers in all centuries. But this feeling can hardly be understood by reading stories, listening to music, or looking at paintings. Love can only be fully felt when you are loved and love yourself.

(401 words) A. I. Kuprin’s work “The Garnet Bracelet” tells about events and feelings that can radically change people’s lives, destroy all foundations and erect something new, truly great. One of these feelings is love. Each hero has his own, but in all cases it is accompanied by deep emotions.

The author describes in detail the inner world and views of the characters so that we can better understand them. So, Vera Sheina loves her husband more like a friend. She feels affection, respect for her husband, and takes care of him. But the course of events is disrupted by an admirer - a local official, Zheltkov. For many years now he has been writing ardent messages to his beloved. Previously, Vera destroyed them, and Zheltkov’s love was unrequited. He loved tenderly and passionately, sincerely and selflessly. The official turned out to be a selfless man, ready to sacrifice. Yes, Vera Nikolaevna did not respond to his feelings, but this was not so important. The main thing for the hero remained the opportunity to simply love and talk about his feelings. In the end, he decided to take a bold step and sent the lady of his heart a garnet bracelet as a gift. Princess Sheina, however, informed her husband about this. Zheltkov, thinking that the peace of his beloved had been disturbed, committed suicide. This is what sacrificial, selfless, very strong, but destructive love for the person himself looks like. It’s a pity that Vera Nikolaevna appreciated the official’s actions too late.

Vera's sister Anna is her complete opposite. She cannot stand her husband and, without cheating on him, allows herself to flirt with men. Anna cheerfully says about herself: “I don’t care. I love everything!". Perhaps her life is easier than Vera Nikolaevna’s, but she is not a happy person either. Love in her life is something ephemeral, fleeting, not connected with a specific person.

General Anosov quite rightly speaks of a high feeling, who expresses the need for heartfelt love through the manifestation of tender feelings towards children. In his opinion, a feeling as strong as death is extremely rare. Often people get married out of necessity, because the time has come. In fact, Vera Nikolaevna did not escape this fate. She could have responded to the feelings of the mysterious admirer, but thoughts about how society would perceive this did not allow her to at least try, test herself, and understand what true love is.

The story with Zheltkov became a cruel lesson for the heroine. She learned to distinguish true from false and with all her heart asked forgiveness from the one who opened her eyes. It's just a pity that he was no longer in the world. Love in the work “The Garnet Bracelet” became a tragedy, but such is the fate of any sublime feeling - it cannot forever be at the peak of passion and inevitably goes out like a spark.

"GARNET BRACELET"

Another work that moved me, called “Garnet Bracelet,” also shows true love. In this work, Kuprin depicts the fragility and insecurity of high human feelings. G. S. Zheltkov is one of the employees in a government institution. He has been in love with Vera Nikolaevna Sheina for eight years now, but his feelings are unrequited. Zheltkov wrote love letters to Vera even before Vera’s marriage. But no one knew who was sending them, since Zheltkov signed with the initials “P. P.Zh.” They assumed that he was abnormal, crazy, crazy, “manic.” But this was a man who truly loved. Zheltkov’s love was unselfish, selfless, not waiting for reward, “love for which to accomplish any feat, to give one’s life, to go to torment is not work at all, but one joy.” This is exactly what Zheltkov’s love for Vera was. In his life, he loved only her and no one else. Faith for him was the only joy in life, the only consolation, “the only thought.” And since his love had no future, it was hopeless, he committed suicide.

The heroine is married, but she loves her husband, and, on the contrary, she does not feel any feelings towards Mr. Zheltkov except annoyance. And Zheltkov himself seems to us at first to be just a vulgar suitor. This is how both Vera and her family perceive him. But in the story about a calm and happy life, disturbing notes flash: this is the fatal love of Vera’s husband’s brother; the love and adoration that her husband has for Vera’s sister; the failed love of Vera’s grandfather, it is this general who says that true love should be a tragedy, but in life it is vulgarized, everyday life and various kinds of conventions interfere. He tells two stories (one of them even somewhat resembles the plot of “The Duel”), where true love turns into a farce. Listening to this story, Vera has already received a garnet bracelet with a bloody stone, which should protect her from misfortune, and could save her former owner from violent death. It is with this gift that the reader’s attitude towards Zheltkov changes. He sacrifices everything for his love: career, money, peace of mind. And doesn't require anything in return.

But again, empty secular conventions destroy even this illusory happiness. Nikolai, Vera’s brother-in-law, who once gave up his love to these prejudices, now demands the same from Zheltkov, he threatens him with prison, the court of society, and his connections. But Zheltkov reasonably objects: what can all these threats do to his love? Unlike Nikolai (and Romashov), he is ready to fight and defend his feelings. The barriers set by society mean nothing to him. Just for the sake of the peace of his beloved, he is ready to give up love, but along with his life: he commits suicide.

Now Vera understands what she has lost. If Shurochka gave up feeling for the sake of well-being and did it consciously, then Vera simply did not see the big feeling. But in the end, she didn’t want to see him, she preferred peace and a familiar life (although nothing was demanded of her) and by this she seemed to have betrayed the man who loved her. But true love is generous - it was forgiven.

According to Kuprin himself, the “Garnet Bracelet” is his most “chaste” thing. Kuprin turned the traditional plot about a small official and a woman of secular society into a poem about unrequited love, sublime, selfless, selfless.

The owner of spiritual wealth and beauty of feeling in the story is a poor man - the official Zheltkov, who sincerely loved Princess Vera Nikolaevna Sheina for seven years. “For him there was no life without you,” the princess’s husband, Prince Vasily, said about Zheltkov. Zheltkov loved Sheina without the slightest hope of reciprocity. It was lucky for him that she read his letters. Zheltkov loved all the little things associated with her. He kept the handkerchief she had forgotten, the program she kept, the note in which the princess forbade her to write. He worshiped these things as believers worship holy relics. “I mentally bow to the ground of the furniture on which you sit, the parquet floor on which you walk, the trees that you touch in passing, the servants with whom you speak.” Zheltkov deified the princess, even when he was dying: “When leaving, I say in delight: “Hallowed be Thy name.” In the boring life of a petty official, in the constant struggle for life, working for a piece of bread, this sudden feeling was, in the words of the hero himself, “... enormous happiness... love with which God was pleased to reward me for something.”

Princess Vera’s brother was unable to understand Zheltkov, but her husband, Prince Vasily Lvovich, appreciated this man’s feelings, although he was forced by the laws of decency to stop this story. He foresaw a tragic end: “It seemed to me that I was present at enormous suffering from which people were dying,” he confesses to Vera.

Princess Vera at first treated G.S.Zh.’s letters and gifts with some contempt, then pity for the unfortunate lover stirred in her soul. After Zheltkov’s death, “...she realized that the love that every woman dreams of had passed her by.”

Vera came into agreement with herself after Zheltkov’s death only after, at the request of the man who committed suicide for her, she listened to “Beethoven’s best work” - the Second Sonata. The music seemed to speak to her on behalf of Zheltkov’s soul: “You and I love each other only for one moment, but forever.” And Vera feels that in the poor man’s soul at the hour of death, neither anger, nor hatred, nor even resentment really stirred to her, the culprit of great happiness and great tragedy in Zheltkov’s life, and that he died loving and blessing his beloved.

Kuprin showed in his story “The Garnet Bracelet” bright human feelings, contrasted with the callousness of the surrounding world.

In the story “The Garnet Bracelet,” Kuprin, with all the power of his skill, develops the idea of ​​true love. He does not want to come to terms with vulgar, practical views on love and marriage, drawing our attention to these problems in a rather unusual way, equating to an ideal feeling. Through the mouth of General Anosov, he says: “...People in our time have forgotten how to love! I don't see true love. I didn’t even see it in my time.” What is this? Call? Isn't what we feel the truth? We have calm, moderate happiness with the person we need. What more? According to Kuprin, “Love must be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world! No life conveniences, calculations or compromises should concern her.” Only then can love be called a real feeling, completely true and moral.

I still cannot forget the impression Zheltkov’s feelings made on me. How much he loved Vera Nikolaevna that he could commit suicide! This is crazy! Loving Princess Sheina “for seven years with a hopeless and polite love,” he, without ever meeting her, talking about his love only in letters, suddenly commits suicide! Not because Vera Nikolaevna’s brother is going to turn to the authorities, and not because his gift - a garnet bracelet - was returned. (It is a symbol of deep fiery love and at the same time a terrible bloody sign of death.) And, probably, not because he squandered government money. For Zheltkov there was simply no other choice. He loved a married woman so much that he could not help but think about her for a minute, and exist without remembering her smile, her look, the sound of her walk. He himself tells Vera’s husband: “Only one thing remains - death... You want me to accept it in any form.” The terrible thing is that he was pushed to this decision by Vera Nikolaevna’s brother and husband, who came to demand that their family be left alone. They turned out to be indirectly responsible for his death. They had the right to demand peace, but Nikolai Nikolayevich’s threat to turn to the authorities was unacceptable, even ridiculous. How can the government prohibit a person from loving?

Kuprin’s ideal is “unselfish, selfless love, not expecting a reward,” one for which you can give your life and endure anything. It was with this kind of love that happens once every thousand years that Zheltkov loved. This was his need, the meaning of life, and he proved this: “I knew neither complaint, nor reproach, nor the pain of pride, I have only one prayer before you: “Hallowed be your name.” These words, with which his soul was filled, are felt by Princess Vera in the sounds of Beethoven’s immortal sonata. They cannot leave us indifferent and instill in us an unbridled desire to strive for the same incomparably pure feeling. Its roots go back to morality and spiritual harmony in a person... Princess Vera did not regret that this love, “which every woman dreams of, passed her by.” She cries because her soul is filled with admiration for sublime, almost unearthly feelings.

A person who could love so much must have some kind of special worldview. Although Zheltkov was just a small official, he turned out to be above social norms and standards. People like them are elevated by people's rumors to the rank of saints, and the bright memory of them lives on for a long time.

Lesson type: lesson on learning new material.

Type of lesson: lesson-conversation.

Purpose of the lesson: during the analysis of the work, identify the features of the image of love A.I. Kuprin in the story “Garnet Bracelet”.

Lesson objectives:

1) understand what meaning A.I. attaches to love. Kuprin in the story “Garnet Bracelet”;
2) develop the ability to analyze a work, develop logical thinking;
3) cultivate the correct attitude towards the feelings of another person, emotional sensitivity and attention.

Lesson equipment: text, portrait of the writer, recording of a sonata by L. Beethoven, computer.

Methods: partial search, problem-based, research.

Today we will try to understand how the heroes of the story understand love. What is love, according to Kuprin?

Teacher's words:

The theme of love worried many writers and poets. Everyone interprets it differently. There is not a single person who would not try to understand this feeling, give it an assessment, and this assessment would be the true meaning. Attempts to describe this feeling do not lead to one opinion. It's different for everyone.

Kuprin wrote his story “The Garnet Bracelet” in 1910; the main theme of this story is love. The work is based on a real fact - the love story of a modest official for the mother of the writer L. Lyubimov.

Excerpt from the memoirs of L. Lyubimov:

“In the period between her first and second marriages, my mother began to receive letters, the author of which, without identifying himself and emphasizing that the difference in social status did not allow him to count on reciprocity, expressed his love for her. These letters were preserved in my family for a long time, and I read them in my youth. An anonymous lover, as it later turned out - Zhelty (in Zheltkov's story), wrote that he worked at the telegraph office, in one letter he said that, under the guise of a floor polisher, he entered my mother's apartment and described the situation. The tone of the messages was grumpy. He was either angry with my mother or thanking her, although she did not react in any way to his explanations...

At first, these letters amused everyone, but then my mother stopped even reading them, and only my grandmother laughed for a long time, opening the next message from the loving telegraph operator.

And then came the denouement: an anonymous correspondent sent my mother a garnet bracelet. My uncle and father, who was then my mother’s fiancé, went to Zheltkov. But Zhelty, like Zheltkov, lived on the sixth floor. He huddled in a squalid attic. He was caught composing another message. The father is more silent while explaining. He told me that he felt some kind of secret in Yellow, a flame of genuine selfless passion. My uncle got excited and was needlessly harsh. Yellow accepted the bracelet and gloomily promised not to write to my mother again. That was the end of it. In any case, nothing is known about his further fate.”

The love story of Vera and her husband

• What is the relationship between the main character and her husband?

“Princess Vera, whose former passionate love for her husband had long since turned into a feeling of lasting, faithful, true friendship, tried with all her might to help the prince.”

• How does the season relate to Vera's family life?

“...by the beginning of September the weather suddenly changed sharply and completely unexpectedly. Quiet, cloudless days immediately arrived, so clear, sunny and warm, which were not there even in July. On the dried, compressed fields, on their prickly yellow stubble, an autumn cobweb glistened with a mica sheen. The calmed trees silently and obediently dropped their yellow leaves.”

• Vera's attitude towards her marriage?

“Take Vasya and me for example. Can we call our marriage unhappy?”

Anna's love story

“She was married to a very rich and very stupid man who did absolutely nothing, but was registered with some charitable institution and had the rank of chamber cadet. She couldn’t stand her husband, but she gave birth to two children from him - a boy and a girl; she decided not to have any more children and did not have any more.”

“She willingly indulged in the most risky flirting in all the capitals and at all the resorts of Europe, but she never cheated on her husband, whom, however, she contemptuously ridiculed both to his face and behind his back.”

• What do the sisters have in common? Compare their attitudes towards marriage and family responsibilities.
• Why do they love different elements?

Comparative characteristics of sisters

Love stories told by the prince.

• How does the prince feel about love? (tells love stories with a laugh)

• Why does the prince have such an attitude towards love?

“He had an extraordinary and very peculiar ability to tell... he talked about the failed marriage of Nikolai Nikolaevich to a rich and beautiful lady. He forced the serious, always somewhat prim Nikolai to run down the street at night in his stockings, with his shoes under his arm.”

“Having attacked the thread of marriage stories, Prince Vasily did not spare Gustav Ivanovich Friesse, Anna’s husband, saying that the next day after the wedding he came to demand, with the help of the police, the eviction of the newlywed from her parents’ house.”

“After the story of the Lima maiden, a new story followed: “Princess Vera and the telegraph operator in love.”

“Finally he dies, but before his death he bequeaths to give Vera two telegraph buttons and a bottle of perfume - filled with his tears.”...

The love story of General Anosov

• Why does the general talk with such warmth about his meeting with the Bulgarian woman?

“And in the middle of the conversation, our eyes met, a spark ran between us, like an electric one, and I felt that I fell in love right away - fiery and irrevocable.”

“...I hugged her, pressed her to my heart and kissed her several times.”

“From then on, every time the moon appeared in the sky with the stars, I hurried to my beloved and for a while forgot all the worries of the day with her. When our journey from those places followed, we swore an oath of eternal mutual love to each other and said goodbye forever.”

• Attitude to the family life of General Anosov.

“And now, three months later, the holy treasure walks around in a shabby hood, shoes on his bare feet, thin, unkempt hair, in curlers, dogging with orderlies like a cook, breaking down with young officers, lisping, squealing, rolling his eyes. For some reason she calls her husband Jacques in public. You know, like that on the nose, with a stretch, languidly: “J-a-a-ak.” Reel, actress, slob, greedy. And the eyes are always deceitful and deceitful.”

A story about the love of a warrant officer for the wife of a regimental commander

• Why does the general call this love stupidity?

“It’s a terrible thing when a fresh and pure boy puts his first love at the feet of an old, experienced and power-hungry lecher. If he jumped out unharmed now, still consider him dead in the future. This is a stamp for life.”

“And a man disappeared... in the most vile way... He became a beggar... he froze somewhere on a pier in St. Petersburg”

The second story about the love of General Anosov

• Why does the general call this case pathetic?

“And the other case was completely pathetic. And the woman was the same as the first, only young and beautiful. She behaved very, very badly. It was easy for us to look at these domestic novels, but even we were offended. And the husband - nothing. He knew everything, saw everything and was silent.”

• Does the general believe in a woman's love?

“I am sure that almost every woman is capable of the highest heroism in love. Understand, she kisses, hugs, gives herself away - and she is already a mother. For her, if she loves, love contains the whole meaning of life - the whole universe!

• What motivates men to get married and women to get married?

“Let's take a woman. It’s a shame to stay with girls, especially when your friends have already gotten married. It's hard to be the odd one out in the family. The desire to be a housewife, the head of the house, a lady, independent... In addition, the need, the direct physical need of motherhood, and to start building your own nest.”

“But the man has other motives. Firstly, fatigue from a single life, from disorder in rooms, from tavern dinners, from dirt, cigarette butts, torn and scattered linen, from debts, from unceremonious comrades, and so on and so forth. Secondly, you feel that living as a family is more profitable, healthier and more economical. Thirdly, you think: when the kids come, I’ll die, but a part of me will still remain in the world... something like the illusion of immortality. Fourthly, the temptation of innocence, as in my case"

“Where is the love? Is love unselfish, selfless, not waiting for reward? The one about whom it is said “strong as death”? You see, the kind of love for which to accomplish any feat, to give one’s life, to suffer torment is not work at all, but pure joy.”

• What should true love be like?

“Love must be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world! No life conveniences, calculations or compromises should concern her.”

Zheltkova's love for Princess Vera

• When Vera thought about Zheltkov’s love (after the general’s words)

“Maybe he’s just an abnormal fellow, a maniac, but who knows? “Maybe your path in life, Verochka, has been crossed by exactly the kind of love that women dream about and that men are no longer capable of.”

• Why does Zheltkov commit suicide?

“I know that I can never stop loving her... Tell me, prince... suppose that this is unpleasant for you... tell me, what would you do to end this feeling? Send me to another city, as Nikolai Nikolaevich said? All the same, I will love Vera Nikolaevna there just as much as I do here. Put me in jail? But even there I will find a way to let her know about my existence. There is only one thing left - death... You want me to accept it in any form.”

• How does Zheltkov feel about his love?

“Think about what I should have done? Run away to another city? All the same, the heart was always near you, at your feet, every moment of the day was filled with you, thoughts about you, dreams about you... sweet delirium. I am very ashamed and mentally blush for my stupid bracelet - well, what? - error".

“I am eternally grateful to you just for the fact that you exist. I checked myself - this is not a disease, not a manic idea - this is love with which God wanted to reward me for something. From the depths of my soul, I thank you for being my only joy in life, my only consolation, my only thought.”

“God grant you happiness, and may nothing temporary or everyday disturb your beautiful soul. I kiss your hands.”

• Why does Zheltkov ask Vera to listen to a Beethoven sonata?

“...I know that you are very musical, I saw you most often at Beethoven quartets...”

• What is the significance of the bracelet given to Vera for Zheltkov?

“I would never allow myself to present you with something that I personally chose: for this I have neither the right, nor subtle taste and - I admit - no money. However, I believe that in the whole world there is no treasure worthy of decorating You.

But this bracelet belonged to my great-grandmother, and the last one, in time, was worn by my late mother. In the middle, between the large stones, you will see one green one. This is a very rare variety of pomegranate - green pomegranate. According to an ancient legend that has been preserved in our family, it has the ability to impart the gift of foresight to women who wear it and drives away heavy thoughts from them, while it protects men from violent death.”

• Why does Vera cry while listening to the sonata?

“She recognized from the first chords this exceptional work, the only one in depth. And her soul seemed to split into two. She simultaneously thought that a great love passed by her, which is repeated only once in a thousand years. She remembered the words of General Anosov and asked herself: why did this man force her to listen to this particular Beethoven work, and even against her wishes? And words formed in her mind. In her thoughts they so coincided with the music that it was as if they were verses that ended with the words: “Hallowed be Thy name.”

Conclude what love is like in Kuprin’s understanding.

Tragic, unique, given once every thousand years.