The Queen Of Spades

"The Queen Of Spades" by Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin is a short story that explores how being obsessed with winning, gambling, and things that might be supernatural can mess with someone's mind. It mixes old stories with deep looks into what people are thinking, warning us about wanting too much and being too greedy. The story is about a young officer named Herman who becomes obsessed with a story about an old countess who knows a secret to winning at cards—three cards, to be exact. Herman tries really hard, even causing the countess's death, to get this secret from her. Later, he sees a ghostly version of her, and she tells him the cards. But when he gambles, his greed and confusion make him choose the queen of spades by mistake, which ruins him. Herman's loss of his mind shows how wanting things too much can ruin someone.