Kilpatrick is a freelance writer and editor. In the following essay, he examines Pushkin's use of irony in the story.

Early in his literary career, Alexander Pushkin was sent into exile by Czar Alexander I for allegedly spreading anti-government and atheistic ideas with his "revolutionary verse." Pushkin was a member of "the Green Lamp," the literary wing of the Union of Welfare secret society.

The Union of Welfare (as well as other political secret societies) was formed in the wake of Napoleon's defeat in 1812. Russian intellectuals began to call for political reform in the form of either a constitutional monarchy or a republic, and for an end to the repulsive institution of serfdom. Czar Alexander I was unwilling to give up power and to allow Russia to modernize.

While he was in exile, Pushkin received word of the Decembrist rebellion in 1825. The death of Czar Alexander I...