“Masquerade” is a drama in four acts, telling about the vicious life of high society in the 1830s. The main events occur due to one sin or another, which almost all heroes are obsessed with. Since the work has many diverse conflicts and problems, it is ideal for writing arguments for the composition. To correctly design it, read the summary for the reading diary from Literaguru and the analysis of the play.
(440 words) The protagonist of the play is Evgeny Arbenin, an elderly nobleman and an avid gambler. Having decided to end the dissolute lifestyle, he marries “mature thought”. Soon, he realizes that he has fallen in love with his own wife. Nastasya Pavlovna (aka Nina) is a young girl who loves her husband.
The action takes place in the house of the Arbenins. Nina promised her husband to return from the ball by midnight, but now it’s the beginning of the second, but she’s all gone. Evgeni Aleksandrovich violated his vow “no longer sit down on cards”, and he broke a big win. But all this for the sake of a friend - Prince Zvezdich, who urgently needed to be rescued. After the game, they went to Prince Engelhardt’s masquerade house, where the Unknown predicts a great misfortune to him. And Zvezdich leaves a mysterious stranger with a golden bracelet. But the bracelet was lost by someone at a ball and didn’t belong to a stranger.
After tidying up with Nina, Arbenin notices that on one hand her bracelet sparkles exactly as he saw Zvezdich today. There should be two bracelets, and the second, according to Nina, is lost. And later it turns out that Mrs. Arbenina spent the evening in a public masquerade house near Engelhardt. The jealous Eugene begins to creep in suspicions that his wife has a love affair with Prince Zvezdich.
The next day, Nina goes to visit her friend, the young widow of Baron Stral. Having met Zvezdich in her living room, the girl tells him about the troubles that happened to her. The prince thinks that Nina is that stranger, but the girl cools his ardor and leaves. An annoyed hero tells the Baroness about everything. Mrs. Strahl is shocked by what happened, because she is a mysterious stranger who gave the prince a strange bracelet.
Zvezdich sends Nina a love letter, the contents of which let the whole Petersburg know. The letter falls into the hands of Arbenin. He is furious and is now convinced of Nina's betrayal. Mrs. Stral, trying to save Zvezdich, talks about everything to Arbenin, but he does not listen to her.
Determined to take revenge on the traitors, Eugene publicly accuses the prince of fraud during a card game. In relation to Nina, conflicting feelings tear him apart: love, jealousy and bitter resentment.
The Baroness, meanwhile, realizing that it is necessary to save her reputation, retires to a country estate, before leaving, revealing to Zvezdich "the solution to this charade." He wants to warn Nina about the possible revenge of her husband and return her the ill-fated bracelet. Without inventing anything better, the prince decides to speak with during the ball, and, having seen them again together, Arbenin loses his mind from jealousy.
Nina can not understand the words of Zvezdich. Why would her husband take revenge? She asks Eugene to bring her ice cream, to which he adds quick-acting poison. That same night, Nastasya Pavlovna dies in her house a painful death.
Among those who came to the funeral is Zvezdich in the company of that same stranger who predicted Arbenin's misfortune. Many years ago, Eugene beat him big in cards, he was disgraced forever and decided to get even. They finally explain everything to Arbenin. Unknown states: "You killed your wife." Eugene is going crazy.
