Greedy Individuals: Hermann and Ivan Ilyich
One of the evils of society is greed. Greed becomes a famous theme in many works due to the fact that it gives readers a glimpse of reality, rather than fairytales and romances. However, authors such as Alexander Pushkin and Leo Tolstoy used the theme of greed to expose humans in their materialistic nature. According to Money and Mad Ambition: Economies of Russian Literature by Jillian Elizabeth Porter “traditionally conceived as a sharply negative form of economic and emotional behavior, and therefore relegated to the low genres of fables and comedies, miserliness offered early Realist authors a welcome narrative opportunity to expose private pettiness (greed for money) to public view” (95). The idea of being stingy and avaricious are shown in the Queen of Spades and The Death of Ilvan Ilyich, two stories that share the same theme written by two outstanding authors.
The Queen of Spades is a story about love, secrets, supernatural and most importantly, greed. The story focuses on a young German soldier named Hermann that through many events and obstacles, threatens a Countess to reveal a secret, but faces consequences when Karma gives …show more content…
According to Dana Gioia in her review on her guide for The Death of Ivan Ilyich, “Tolstoy’s fiction, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, depicts a broken world headed for moral disaster, unless honest introspection and spiritual transformation begin to occur”. In both stories, the characters face serious consequences in result of their immoral behaviors Hermann and Ivan are two individuals whose characterization changes drastically throughout a short period of time. After they both get a taste of their own medicine, they believe they do not deserve this suffering. However, the question is where was this logic when the roles were
One of the evils of society is greed. Greed becomes a famous theme in many works due to the fact that it gives readers a glimpse of reality, rather than fairytales and romances. However, authors such as Alexander Pushkin and Leo Tolstoy used the theme of greed to expose humans in their materialistic nature. According to Money and Mad Ambition: Economies of Russian Literature by Jillian Elizabeth Porter “traditionally conceived as a sharply negative form of economic and emotional behavior, and therefore relegated to the low genres of fables and comedies, miserliness offered early Realist authors a welcome narrative opportunity to expose private pettiness (greed for money) to public view” (95). The idea of being stingy and avaricious are shown in the Queen of Spades and The Death of Ilvan Ilyich, two stories that share the same theme written by two outstanding authors.
The Queen of Spades is a story about love, secrets, supernatural and most importantly, greed. The story focuses on a young German soldier named Hermann that through many events and obstacles, threatens a Countess to reveal a secret, but faces consequences when Karma gives …show more content…
According to Dana Gioia in her review on her guide for The Death of Ivan Ilyich, “Tolstoy’s fiction, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, depicts a broken world headed for moral disaster, unless honest introspection and spiritual transformation begin to occur”. In both stories, the characters face serious consequences in result of their immoral behaviors Hermann and Ivan are two individuals whose characterization changes drastically throughout a short period of time. After they both get a taste of their own medicine, they believe they do not deserve this suffering. However, the question is where was this logic when the roles were