# Sulamith explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Aleksandr Kuprin.

## What happens

A poetic retelling of the biblical Song of Songs, focusing on the passionate and tragic love between King Solomon and the beautiful Sulamith, a simple vineyard worker. Their love is celebrated in lyrical dialogue but ultimately shadowed by jealousy and death, as Sulamith is killed by the king's jealous wife, Astis, after a brief period of bliss.

## Themes in this chapter

### Love and Sacrifice

The central theme of the chapter, exploring love's intensity, devotion, and ultimate tragedy as Sulamith sacrifices her life for Solomon's love.

### Cruelty and Suffering

The brutal murder of Sulamith by Astis highlights the cruelty born of jealousy and the suffering that accompanies forbidden love.

## Character check-ins

### King Solomon

The wise and powerful king who falls deeply in love with Sulamith, composing the Song of Songs for her.

### Sulamith

A beautiful and innocent vineyard worker who becomes Solomon's beloved, only to be murdered by a jealous rival.

## Key lines

> Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.

Place me permanently in your heart and memory, because love is as powerful and inevitable as death, and jealousy is as harsh and destructive as the grave.

_This opening epigraph from the Song of Songs encapsulates the chapter's themes of love's strength and jealousy's destructiveness._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_se/chapters/sulamith
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_se/chapters