Germann the Confessor and the stony, seated Countess: The moral subtext ofPushkin's The 'Queen of Spades'

Despite its numerous exegetes 'The Queen of Spades' has never received a co nsistent moral reading. An attempt to fill this lacuna, this article argues that, authorial disclaimers notwithstanding, guilt plays a crucial role in Germann's behaviour after the Countess' death. This is first manifest in h is logically unmotivated nocturnal confession to Lizaveta. Moreover his per ception immediately thereafter of his victim's corpse in a seated, that is, judgemental posture defines her three posthumous appearances: at the funer al; at Germann's bedside, where she reveals her secret and in the climactic gambling scene, where she destroys him.