Pushkins essays

Pushkin's essays Pushkins short story, The Shot, has an emphasis on the duel as it was in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and on the delicate balance of life and death that is brought into existence when a duel is begun. The narrator is not the protagonist, but rather a sort-of nondescript soldier; and while the story is written from his point of view, he does not play a very large role. The central figure of the plot is a grizzled retired hussar named Silvio. The narrator takes a singular interest in this mysterious figure that resides near his companys base of operations, but his interest disappears when Silvio is insulted by a drunken aggressor but fails to punish the insult with death. Shortly thereafter, Silvio receives a letter and announces to the officers that he has to leave immediately, but heinvites them all to dinner at his house one last time. After the rest of the officers have returned home, Silvio takes the narrator aside. Apparently disturbed by the narrators distant behavior, he tells the story of his past. As a hussar, Silvio was a great duelist and a favorite among his peers. When his popularity fell as a result of the arrival of a new soldier who is more handsome and witty than Silvio, he insulted him with the goal of inciting a duel. When it is Silvios turn to shoot, he is disheartened by his enemys casual behavior and nonchalance in the face of death. He calls the duel off until later. The letter Silvio received had told him that his enemy was being married to a beautiful young woman, and Silvio decides that now is the time to finish his duel, and travels off to find the newlyweds. Five years later, A rich count and his beautiful young wife move into the narrators neighborhood. It turns out that this is Silvios mortal enemy, and that he found them and made as if to finish the duel, but seeing the wifes fear and the husbands terror, he left satisfie...