How Pushkin illustrates the theme of corruption in the The Queen of Spades

How Pushkin illustrates the theme of corruption in the The Queen of Spades Alexander Pushkin in his writing, The Queen of Spades, takes the reader through the world of faro gambling at the time of the Imperialist Russia in the beginning of the early 19th century. Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on How Pushkin illustrates the theme of corruption in the The Queen of Spades? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The author’s intention in going inside this world of faro gambling is to reveal his principle subject matter, the destructive consequences of greediness and corruption, which is both dominant in Russia’s society currently and on people’s souls. According to the writing, the corruption of love by money and class is preyed by two individual characters: the blameless and fixated, â€Å"angel and fallen angel, Lizaveta and Herman, Susan Chilcott and Placido Domingo† (Pushkin 1890). The author introduces an inscrutable character, Hermann, a protagonist, and tries to m akes him so likable, with an intention of carrying away the reader emotionally looking at the consequence of corruption, and makes the reader more leaning to empathize with him (Herman) when his greed or corrupt behaviors lead to his down-fall. Hermann endeavours to enrich his own self at the expense of others. We see that Herman cannot overcome his greed that eventually corrupts his heart and soul. To begin with, he deceives Lizaveta and he even has no regrets for his actions. As the author narrates when he (Hermann) meets Lizaveta in her house:  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Hermann gazed at her in silence: his heart, too, was a prey to violent emotion, but neither the tears of the poor girl, nor the wonderful charm of her beauty, enhanced by her grief, could produce any impression upon his hardened soul† (Pushkin 1890). However, although he has feelings for Lizaveta (as he says â€Å"I am ready to take your sin upon my soul†), he is overcome by greed for money, which corrupts his heart and betrayed her trust for money. This can be seen where he was waiting for the Countess to go to sleep, but hears Lizaveta walking up the staircase, Pushkin (1890) says, â€Å"Something like remorse stirred in his heart, but died down again.†Advertising Looking for essay on literature languages? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Even besides frightening the old woman to death with his behavior, he has no remorse for her death and he is still persistent to master the secret of the card even if it meant carrying the lifetime yoke of a horrific indulgence but winning the fortune. When he lastly masters the secret of the game and wins 47,000 rubles, he tends to believe that all belongs to him and he is obsessed by the card. Hermann greedily deceives other gamblers large sums. We can see how corrupt Hermann’s behavior becomes when he tells the Countess, â€Å"Perhaps the price of it was some terrible sin, the loss of eternal bliss, a compact with the devil† (Pushkin 1890). Pushkin also brings out other thematic concerns in the writing such as the negative nature of corruption and the influence of sexuality, drawing attention to the Oedipal affiliation between the Countess and the protagonist. Herman flees from the Countess’s house with the assistance of Lizaveta, who is later aghast of learning that Herman’s profession of love was disguised with greed. However, in the end Hermann doubles his winnings on the gambling table but eventually lost it all he had, including his mind, after he mistaken a queen for an ace. This led to his confinement in a mental hospital, and his obsession got worse. The only thing that pricked his conscience was the irremediable failure of the secret to win him fortunes; all the time he repeated, â€Å"Three, seven, ace. Three, seven, queen† (Pushkin 1890). Reference Pushkin, A. (1890). The queen of spades. (Translated by Duddingt on, N.). New York: Progress Publishers.

It Ends When…

It Ends When†¦ It Ends When It Ends When By Maeve Maddox A reader is puzzled by a line in a movie: While watching The Bourne Ultimatum, I observed a CIA officer saying It ends when weve won . [I’m] a bit confused with this construction as it does not indicate future though the context of sentence [indicates that] the officer is talking about some time in future. If the statement stood alone, one would expect the verb in one of the clauses to be in future tense: â€Å"The killing will end when we have won.† However, the statement â€Å"It ends when we’ve won† refers to a previous sentence that contains or implies the antecedent of the pronoun it. The example from the movie is the second half of this exchange: Pamela Landy: Noah, shes one of us. You start down this path, where does it end? Noah Vosen: It ends when weve won. â€Å"It ends when† + present perfect is a common idiom in such contexts as these: Each week we watch/review 2 films. When will it all end? It ends when we’ve seen all the movies. Affordability doesn’t end at the bottom of our pockets.  It ends when we’ve counted all the costs.   The weekend course starts at 2 pm on Friday and 9 am on Saturday and Sunday. It ends when we’ve covered the material. â€Å"It ends when† can also be followed by present tense: All right: where is the poison? The battle of wits has begun. It ends when you decide and we both drink, and find out who is right and who is dead. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:12 Types of LanguagePrecedent vs. PrecedenceEnglish Grammar 101: Sentences, Clauses and Phrases

Risk and return, portfolio diversification and the Capital Asset Essay

Risk and return, portfolio diversification and the Capital Asset Pricing Model; The cost of equity (Starbucks Co.) - Essay Example (Valuebasedmanagement.net, 2011) This paper will therefore provide computation and will also discuss the cost of equity of Starbucks besides computing the cost of equity for Nestle and McDonalds to make a comparison. Further, cost of equity will also be calculated by using dividend discount model as well as arbitrage pricing theory. The above calculations show that the overall cost of equity for Starbucks is 11.82% based on the data provided. This value is higher than the cost of equity of an average firm on the S&P 500 index thus indicating that the overall risk profile of Starbucks may be higher than an average firm. It may be due to the fact that the investors, considering the dynamics of the industry and particular performance of the firm in the industry, may not be willing to put their bets on Starbucks. The cost of equity should have been lower than an average firm on the S&P considering the overall market strength of Starbucks and brand power. The above comparison between McDonalds, Nestle as well as Starbucks shows that the return on equity for other two firms is lower as compared to Starbucks. The lower cost of equity of these firms suggests that these firms have relatively stable risk profile due to their stronger financial performance as well as fundamentals. What is also important to note that these firms are diversified in nature whereas Starbucks is only relatively focused on the sale of coffee only? It is therefore of no surprise that the cost of equity of such firms is relatively lower than Starbucks Dividend discount model is another important model to find out the fair values of the stock based on the dividends. (Investopedia.com, 2011 ). This model considers dividends as the future cash flows to be received and accordingly the price of the stock is calculated by using following formula: Thus the expected rate of return is obtained by considering a linear combination of different macroeconomic factors combined with