Could we define the Queen of Spades as a fatal woman? What gives her the real power over people? 9. Give some examples of Pushkin's laconic style as manifested in the story. The Queen This last pair of feet brings us to the last card of this magic tale, to the bel- dam of the story, the queen of spades. The old Countess Anna Fedotovna, a truly extravagant relic of the eighteenth century, belongs among the most remarkable of Pushkin's creations. Her real life model was Princess Nataliia Petrovna Golitsyna, whom Pushkin knew personally (see figure 2). The princess served as a lady-in-waiting to five generations of Russian em- perors and was ninety-two years old at the time Pushkin wrote his tale. She was an avid gambler, and because of her failing eyesight, a deck of large-format cards was kept for her at the court.36 Once, her grandson, S. G. Golitsyn, had lost a large sum at cards and came to his grandmother to beg for money
annaabi.ee 
