The Paranormal vs Fevered Imagination
Illustration by Maitrayee P
The Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin is a Russian short story with supernatural elements. Or is it merely fevered imagination? The story revolves around a German engineer, Hermann who becomes increasingly obsessed with obtaining the secret to winning the high-stake card game, Faro, from the old Countess and in the process experiences paranormal activities. This essay explores whether they were indeed paranormal activities or merely his fevered imagination.
In the story, there are three instances which indicate some form of paranormal activities. The first is when Hermann goes to the Countess’ funeral in order to implore her pardon, because he feels responsible for her death; there “the dead woman darted a mocking look at him and winked with one eye”; shocked he falls to the ground. The second instance takes place in Herman's house, after the funeral when he sees the Countess’ ghost in his room and she reveals the three winning cards - three, seven, ace. The paranormal activity occurs at the end of the story when Herman loses the card game and “the queen of spades smiled ironically and winked her eye at him.”
Though these events seem to be other-worldly and enhance the overall mood of the story, these supernatural activities are no more than Herman’s fevered imagination. In the first instance at the funeral, the deceased countess “darted a mocking look at him and winked, making him fall to the ground.” This is unlikely to have actually occurred and is more likely imagined by Hermann because he was under tremendous duress, since the previous night, when he threatened the old Countess aggressively by going to her room in the middle of the night, and eventually causing her death. Hermann is a German engineer, which says quite a bit about his character in that he is extremely efficient and calculative. Besides engineers in general are methodical and systematic, they are also highly analytical and logical and can be depicted as obsessive and intensely focused on their work. This can also put a huge amount of stress on the person. The accidental death of the countess takes a toll on Hermann, who is not a killer, and his well thought out “logical” plan goes awry. This derailment of his plan alters his mental state and puts him under tremendous pressure, similar to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The latter is known to create hallucinations for people who are under tremendous stress; as a result of this, Hermann hallucinates the dead Countess winking at him.
After the obsequies, “during the whole of that day, Hermann was strangely excited,” and he resorted to “drinking a great deal of wine,” which was “contrary to his usual custom,” and by doing so he hoped to deaden “his inward agitation.” “But the wine only served to excite his imagination,” and when he returned home, he fell into a deep sleep. He awoke at quarter to three and right after he saw someone looking at him from the street and subsequently “a woman dressed in white entered the room,” and she revealed to Hermann the secret cards. Some may believe that the ghost did truly appear, but it is important to note the period in which Hermann awakes. The time between 3:00 am and 4:00 am, in folklore is considered as the witching hour --- a time of night that is associated with supernatural events. Alexander Pushkin could have only chosen this period of time to make us believe in the supernatural, however the ghost can be proved as a hallucination or vision and not a paranormal experience because of all the stress drinking that led up to this event. Hermann was heavily under the influence of alcohol, and under pressure he had drunk more than usual. And, it is scientifically proven that people who aren’t used to drinking alcohol are known to create auditory and visual hallucinations. Furthermore, it is described that Hermann “rose up and entered the next room” he then “returned to his room, lit his candle, and wrote down all the details of his vision.” But normally, when someone comes in contact with a paranormal experience or a ghost, they probably would have a strong reaction — screaming, fainting, or crying. But Hermann remained calm and poised and went about his way, recording the incident. This once again proves that it is not quite possible for it to be paranormal. Another factor, which could serve as proof is the lack of sleep Hermann got since the death, or rather the killing of the Countess. Furthermore, Hermann still wanted the secret winning cards. This too impacted his mental stability, which could’ve led to the hallucinations of the ghost, rather than the ghost making an appearance.
In the last instance of the paranormal, at the end of the story, Herman is increasingly obsessed. “One thought alone occupied his whole mind - to make a profitable use of the secret which he had purchased so dearly.” Everything he thought about, everything he saw and everything he spoke of led to only three, seven, ace. Towards the end of the story when Hermann plays Faro in the morning, he wins a great deal of money. However, his obsession and greed take over and he goes to play once again in the evening. During this high-stake game, he plays the cards that were revealed to him. And he loses everything. And “at that moment it seems to him that the queen of spades smiled ironically and winked her eye at him.” Did the countess lie to him or did he play the wrong cards? We don’t know. But one thing is sure that all the months leading up to this led him to complete madness. And that is what made him think that the card winked at him.
Pushkin uses the paranormal scenes to enhance the mood of the story and also raise confusion in the reader’s mind. Did the ghost actually come and reveal the secret? Did the dead old lady or the queen from the deck of cards really wink at him? While these elements are exciting in the story, a close reading reveals that these are not supernatural, but rather the results of a fevered imagination of an obsessed, greedy and methodical man under high stress, because his well-laid plan failed, and worse, resulted in murder. The stress, guilt and obsession all lead to fevered imagination.