Queen of spades website11/24/2023 He has come to avenge himself against Herman for the loss of Lisa. No one is willing to play against him until Prince Yeletsky steps up. He bets an exorbitant sum and wins with the three, then doubles his winnings in the next round with the seven. Herman surprises the other gamblers by asking to join the game. Recognizing his madness, she takes her own life. Shortly after midnight, he arrives to take her to the gaming house. Lisa has given Herman an ultimatum: if he does not visit her by midnight, she will regard him as her grandmother’s murderer. At their peak, the ghost of the old countess appears and enjoins him to marry Lisa – and teaches him the three infallible cards: the three, the seven, and the ace. His hopes dashed by the death of the countess, Herman is haunted by dark and feverish imaginings. Rushing in, Lisa sees that Herman’s true interest is not her, but rather the secret of the three cards. She dies in his arms, without revealing her secret. Coming upon the old countess by surprise, he pleads with her in her mind, memories of her youthful glory in the courts of France mingle with Herman’s presence. More and more, it is the “Muscovite Venus” who captures Herman’s imagination. Lisa manages to get away from Prince Yeletsky and smuggle a key to Herman, telling him he can use it to get to her room by way of the countess’s bedroom. Herman’s comrades continue to shock and unsettle him with their teasing allusions to the old countess. To celebrate Lisa’s departure, her neighbors rehearse and put on a play, “The Faithful Shepherdess.” The piece is actually a bitter commentary directed at Lisa: unlike the titular shepherdess, Lisa has chosen money and social advancement over her love for a pauper. Once Lisa and Herman have been left alone again, she confesses that she loves him too. He has to hide, however, at the return of the old countess, who has been spying on her granddaughter. Suddenly Herman stands before her and threatens to kill himself, saying he cannot live without her. Only when she is alone do her repressed feelings for Herman catch up with her. Now his comrades goad him: if he were the old countess’s lover, he could play without putting himself at risk.īefore the wedding, Lisa says goodbye to her friends Polina and Masha and the other women who live in their building. Herman is known to watch games of chance all night long but never take part himself. However, she was warned by an apparition that a third lover would attempt to learn the secret of the cards, thereby bringing about her death. The countess won everything back and later entrusted the secret to her husband and a lover. Tomsky recounts the rumors about the countess’s nickname, “Queen of Spades”: It is said that as a young woman, she caused a stir in Paris as the “Muscovite Venus.” After gambling away her entire fortune, she fell prey to the Count of Saint Germain, who revealed to her the secret of three invincible cards in exchange for a night of love. She is both repelled and fascinated by the sight of Herman – as he is by her. ![]() Lisa’s grandmother, the old countess, enters. ![]() Though fascinated by Herman, Lisa has decided not to get involved with him, as only a marriage of convenience to the prince offers her the opportunity to escape her poverty. Prince Yeletsky appears and introduces Lisa as his fiancée. Herman is encouraged by Tomsky, a newly wealthy social climber, but mocked by his comrades Chekalinsky, Surin, Chaplitsky, and Namurov. The eccentric Herman confesses to Tomsky that he is in love with Lisa, whom he has only admired from a distance. A spring day in a poor quarter of Saint Petersburg.
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