Story "Pearl necklace" (Leskov). Summary

In this article you will find a short summary of Leskov's story "The Pearl Necklace". The work belongs to the cycle "Christmas Stories" and was written in 1885.

Literary dispute

This "story in the story" was written by Nikolai Leskov. "Pearl necklace", the brief content of which you will read in this article, is a holy story in the genre of realism. The work is unusual because it lacks a mystical component. We begin to disassemble the story "Pearl necklace" (Leskov). A summary of the chapters begins with a conversation in one educated family over tea.

The narrative is conducted from the first person, beginning with the first chapter. The author describes a literary dispute that arose in the circle of friends. It was about the sacred stories of Dickens, suffering from a certain monotony, like all works of this kind.

The form of the story is strict and canonical: it must be timed to the events of the Christmas Eve (this is the period from Christmas to Epiphany), there must be something mystical or fantastic and necessarily morality, and the end must be necessarily cheerful.

One of the guests claims that because of such a rigid framework, the writer's imagination is limited, and the stories are not diverse. The author refutes this opinion, since even within the framework of the holy story one can reflect the present time and mores. He undertakes to describe a real story that happened 3 years ago, and fully conforms to the canons. The main hero of the narrative will be the younger brother of the author.

Intention to get married

We continue to talk about the story "Pearl necklace" (Leskov). Brief summary of the second chapter.

The youngest brother comes to the holy places from the province. He asks the author and his wife to find his wife. He is very seriously set up, he intends to marry immediately to Baptist (during the time of the holy days one can not be married), and with his new wife to go back to the province.

The elder brother says that you can not marry so quickly, first you need to know the bride well, arrange it to yourself. He suggests to continue empty fantasies about the wedding in the company of his wife and sent to the service. But when the author returns home, it turns out that in the afternoon his friend Masha came to his wife, the younger brother got acquainted with her and decided to marry this girl.

The author is dumbfounded. The wife praises Masha, lists numerous advantages of the girl. The brother is also a noble man, they both agree to a marriage and in the evening they go to the parents of the bride! Then the elder brother reminds his wife - Masha's father, though she is a well-off person, but left her two elder sisters without a dowry. The wife objects - Masha, like her beloved younger daughter, can get a part of her father's fortune. She draws her husband's attention to the fact that she herself was a homeless woman, and even a girl from a poor family can become a good wife.

Matchmaking

What will happen next in the story "The Pearl Necklace" (Leskov)? The summary of the third chapter begins with the fact that the author wants to make peace with his wife after the dispute. But she went along with her husband's younger brother to the parents of the future bride. The narrator thinks that the girl's father deceived two daughters-in-law with a dowry, although the same guys themselves do not miss, and even his kind younger brother will double-up.

The author's wife returns and tells how well the girl's father accepted them, treated them to champagne. A few days later the narrator, who was very busy with work, learns that the couple's official betrothal has taken place. Again he argues with his wife.

A man recalls how he took care of his wife before the wedding, in order to better understand her character, advantages and disadvantages. To which the woman answers with a laugh - he came because he was in love, and, accordingly, could not assess it impartially. The author agrees internally.

Gift

We continue to study the story "Pearl necklace" (Leskov). The summary of the fourth chapter tells about an unusual gift that the father of the bride of his daughter made. For all, he put a very expensive and elegant pearl necklace around her neck.

The girl was not happy with the gift and cried. According to legend, pearls presage tears, so it is not accepted to give it to the New Year. Father reassured her daughter: the day after the wedding she would reveal her secret and she will understand that because of the New Year's gift, it's not worth to get upset. At the Baptism the young were married.

After the wedding

How will the story "Pearl necklace" (Leskov) end? The brief content of the last, fifth, chapter narrates about the events that took place after the wedding.

The next day after the wedding, the author and his wife visited the newlyweds. They were met by a younger brother in perfect spirits. He reported on the letter he received in the morning from his father-in-law. In it it was reported that the spouses no longer have to worry about because of the omelet with the necklace, as the pearls in it are fake. This joke made the guy very cheerful. The newly-made husband was not upset, because he did not think about the dowry and did not consider the money of the bride.

He gladly met his father-in-law, but asked permission not to talk about faking Masha, because he does not want her to think badly of her father. Then the old man said why he did not give money to the other two sons-in-law. Men only wanted a dowry, and because of this they quarreled with their daughters. But in the young son-in-law he sees love only for Masha, so he will give money, and immediately.

The young man refused, because the girl would be uncomfortable with her sisters because she was the only one who received the dowry. Then the old man called his daughter and gave her three tickets for fifty thousand rubles for her and her sisters, and said that she had chosen a good husband.

What conclusions can be drawn from the story "Pearl necklace" (Leskov), a brief summary of which you just read? The pearl necklace was a test both for the groom and for the father. The groom proved his unselfishness, and his father, seeing sincere sincere feelings, himself showed love and took a step towards reconciliation with older daughters.