home Garage heating The essence of the work is the death of an official. Analysis of “The Death of an Official” by Chekhov

The essence of the work is the death of an official. Analysis of “The Death of an Official” by Chekhov

The executor in the theater sneezes at the civil general, begins to pursue him with apologies and even comes to his home, from where the general kicks him out. Returning home, the executor dies of grief.

Executor Ivan Dmitrievich Chervyakov watches the play “The Bells of Corneville” in the theater. During the performance, Chervyakov sneezes and sprays on the old man, whom he recognizes as civil general Brizzhalov, an employee of the Department of Railways. The embarrassed executor begins to whisper an apology to the general. Brizzhalov says: “Nothing, nothing...” and asks not to interfere with listening. During the intermission, an embarrassed Chervyakov approaches the general and apologizes again. The general tells him that he has already forgotten about this misunderstanding, but thoughts about what happened do not leave Ivan Dmitrievich’s head. Arriving home, he tells his wife how he sneezed on the general. The wife is scared at first, but when she learns that the general is a “stranger,” she calms down and advises him to go and apologize.

The next day, Chervyakov puts on a new uniform, gets his hair cut and goes to Brizzhalov. In the reception room, the executor again apologizes to the general, who says: “What nonsense... God knows what!” and begins to deal with petitioners. Ivan Dmitrievich thinks that Brizzhalov doesn’t even want to talk to him, and decides that it can’t be left like this. When the general finishes with the visitors, Chervyakov again tries to apologize. Brizzhalov really doesn’t want to listen to him anymore, considering that this is a mockery.

Chervyakov decides that he will no longer go around and apologize, but will write a letter. He, however, does not write the letter, and the next day he goes to the general himself. Brizhalov, furious, kicks Chervyakov out. The executor returns home, without taking off his uniform, lies down on the sofa and dies.

One of the early stories by A.P. Chekhov's “The Death of an Official” was published in 1883, when a little-known writer under the pseudonym “Antosha Chekhonte” was published in humorous magazines, publishing dozens of short funny stories that enjoyed constant success among readers.

The background of the story is as follows. Once, a good friend of Anton Pavlovich’s family, writer and manager of Moscow theaters, Vladimir Petrovich Begichev, told a funny story about how one person sneezed on another in the theater during a performance. Moreover, this fact excited him so much that the next day he came to ask for forgiveness for yesterday’s embarrassment. They laughed at the story and forgot about it. But not Anton Pavlovich. Even then, in his imagination, the image of Ivan Dmitrievich Chervyakov in a tightly closed uniform and General Brizzhalov was born. The result of the story told was the short story “The Death of an Official” that appeared on the pages of the magazine “Oskolki” with the subtitle “Case”.

Story Analysis

The work was written in the spirit of realism, which became widespread in Russia in the second half of the 19th century. The story was included in the collection “Motley Stories”. The writer combined realism with convention here. This is clearly visible at the beginning of the work and at its end, when mockery of death is inappropriate.

The ideological content of the story is the theme of the little man, a protest against self-suppression and self-abasement of the individual. Ivan Dmitrievich Chervyakov is the younger brother of the “Station Warden” Samson Vyrin. Always humiliated and confused for no particular reason. In his story, Chekhov literally knocks on the reader’s mind, urging him to squeeze out of himself “a slave drop by drop.”

Plot

The plot of the plot might seem completely devoid of any significance, if not for its further development and a completely unexpected ending. While in the theater, official Ivan Dmitrievich Chervyakov sneezed on the bald head of the general sitting in front and, as it seemed to him, displeased him.

Having apologized once, he was not satisfied with this and began to literally persecute the general with his apologies. It seemed to him that he was not satisfied with his apology. The general, at first, quite calmly and favorably accepted the official’s apology. But, endlessly pursued by Chervyakov, he finally explodes and screams at him. After which Ivan Dmitrievich came home, lay down on the bed and died.

Heroes

There are only two main characters here: a petty official with a telling surname, Ivan Dmitrievich Chervyakov, and civil general Brizzhalov. The main character is, of course, Chervyakov. Chekhov shows how pathetic and absurd a person can be, to what a slavish state he can reduce himself. Every time he apologizes to the general, he voluntarily renounces human dignity. It would seem that it would be easier to apologize to the person who graciously accepted your apology and that should all end there. No, you have to force yourself to go and apologize again.

For him, this is not just an unpleasant embarrassment. No! This is an attack on the bureaucratic hierarchy. In this case, General Brizzhalov evokes more sympathy. After all, at first he responded quite decently to Chervyakov’s apology. But he had the principle in his head that respect for persons is sacred, almost the foundation of social existence; in his mind, the general should, apparently, hold a ceremony to accept his apology. And he is even indignant that the general is so inattentive to his apologies. The general himself seems to us to be a completely well-bred man. The fact that he shouted at Chervyakov at the end of the story is quite understandable. Probably not everyone could withstand such persecution.

The story is called "The Death of an Official." There is a deep meaning here that it was not a person who died, but an official for whom veneration of rank is the basis of life. His death does not evoke much sympathy or tragedy. If this official had grown to certain heights, then everywhere along his path he would have promoted the idea of veneration of rank, raising his own kind. That is why Chekhov mercilessly kills him. In his presentation, Chervyakov did not die from fright or from unbearable humiliation. No. It is unbearable for him to realize that his desire to serve, to offer his lowest apologies, is not accepted in a dignified manner. And he dies. By killing him, Chekhov thus pronounces a sentence on everything that Chervyakov personifies.

"The Death of an Official" is one of the early stories by the famous Russian writer Anton Chekhov. In 1886, the work was included in the collection “Motley Stories.” "Death of an Official" was written in the spirit realism, this direction spread in Russia in the second half of the 19th – 20th centuries.

Chekhov managed to combine “strict realism” with increased conventionality. At the beginning of the story we can clearly trace the features of this direction, but at the end of the work Chekhov goes beyond the scope of realism, for which mockery of death is unacceptable.

In this work, Chekhov raises the theme of the “little” man. In his work, Chekhov tries to protest the suppression of the human personality, and in the work “The Death of an Official” he clearly shows the consequences of such treatment: the subject of ridicule is a petty official who, for no particular reason, is in constant confusion.

There are only three characters in the story: an official with a telling surname Ivan Dmitrievich Chervyakov, Chervyakov’s wife and General Brizzhalov. Most attention Chekhov pays attention to the official, because this main character, object of ridicule. The author is not interested in the rest of the characters.

The little man in this story is both comic and pathetic. Laughter is caused by Chervyakov’s absurd persistence, and pity is generated by his zealous humiliation of himself. Once again, apologizing to the general, the official renounced his human dignity.

At the beginning of the story, the author compares two sides: a minor official and a general. From this moment on, a conflict is generated, traditional for Chekhov’s works. Because the general shouted at the visitor, Chervyakov dies - a seemingly familiar plot pattern. But there are significant changes in the story: the general shouted at his subordinate only when the latter brought him to aggression.

Such an unexpected and comic turn of events lies precisely in the special worldview of the protagonist. And Chervyakov died not from fright at all, but from the fact that a man of high rank violated his sacred principles.

The master of the small genre could not change his style this time either. Chekhov's brevity is simply amazing. His short works often contain deep meaning, and it can only be understood through artistic details that are designed to convey the main idea to the reader. In this story, the presence of the author is not felt; Chekhov distances himself from the heroes. This technique helps describe actions even more objectively.

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Story by A.P. Chekhov's "Death of an Official" is imbued with the humor usually inherent in this writer. This work is studied at school, so the “Death of an Official” summary usually helps to get acquainted with it, understanding not only the plot, but also the analysis. This will help in the future to read this work - “Death of an Official” in summary and perfectly understand every phrase created by the great writer.
The main character of the story is Ivan Dmitrievich Chervyakov. He held a small and rather simple position - executor. His position in society, of course, left its mark on him, and therefore he was afraid of his superiors, and not only those under whose leadership he himself worked, but also officials of a higher rank in any department. He served well, was helpful, but few people noticed him.
One day, the main character of the story “Death of an Official” goes to the theater. It happens in the evening, and Ivan Dmitrievich Chervyakov, after a hard day’s work, is completely relaxed. Since the budget of the family of the protagonist of “Death of an Official” is small, he goes to the theater alone, and his wife remains to wait for him at home. It seems that the evening should be interesting and, of course, it did not foretell any trouble.
The state of Ivan Dmitrievich Chervyakov can hardly be expressed in a few words, since he was not only happy about this coincidence of circumstances, but was simply blissful from it. He arrived at the theater much earlier, took his seat and calmly waited for the performance to begin. His place was in the second row, from where everything was clearly visible, but for the sake of prestige, after all, he had not come here in vain, he still glanced from time to time at the stage, where the performance was about to begin, using small theater binoculars.
Chervyakov did not go to the theater often, so it was a big event in his life. That evening, a performance still unknown to Chervyakov, “The Bells of Corneville,” was to be presented on stage.
And everything was just excellent, and the evening probably would have ended wonderfully. And then the petty official from the story “The Death of an Official” went home in good spirits, where a joyful wife would be waiting for him.
But then this story of a minor official would not be over, but would be very useless. That is why the authors added the wonderful word “what if” to the beginning of the story. So what suddenly happened to Ivan Dmitrievich Chervyakov?
At what point his eyes suddenly began to water, rolled up, his breathing became difficult, and he, unexpectedly for himself and those around him, sneezed. But this did not cause any bewilderment in anyone; almost everyone present in this room did not even pay attention to it. And Chervyakov himself at first also did not consider it necessary to think about what happened. Yes, this is understandable, because anyone can sneeze. But like a polite person, just in case, he took out a handkerchief, dried himself and began to look around him, thinking about not disturbing anyone.
But at some point Chervyakov noticed that the man sitting in front of him, on the first row, also took out a handkerchief and was now stubbornly wiping his head, which had no hair at all. He rubbed his bald head so persistently that Ivan Dmitrievich immediately realized that it was he who caused this old man inconvenience.
Chervyakov took a closer look and recognized the old man sitting in front as a civil general. Ivan Dmitrievich, the main character of the story “The Death of an Official,” understood that this man had nothing to do with him, and he did not obey, but still he felt uneasy, looking at how his senior rank wiped his bald head with his nose with a handkerchief. Of course, he recognized this man. It was civil general Brizzhalov.
Chervyakov decided that he definitely needed to apologize. Therefore, he leaned forward with his whole body and began to whisper words of apology into the general’s ear. Tom was also uncomfortable, and he replied that nothing bad had happened. But this did not stop Ivan Dmitrievich, and he continued to apologize. The general asked him to forget about this situation and watch the performance.
Chervyakov tried to do this, but what was happening on stage no longer interested him. During intermission, he decides to make another attempt at an apology. But the general did not listen, saying that he had already forgotten about everything. But Ivan Dmitrievich did not like his eyes, the way he looked at him. And so for the rest of the show he was already thinking about what happened and what he should do next.
After the performance, going home, Chervyakov did not even notice which road he was walking on, since his thoughts were only occupied with what had happened. Entering his apartment, Ivan Dmitrievich immediately told about how impolitely he acted with Brizzhalov. But the official didn’t like his wife’s reaction either. So, the woman was scared at first, but then, upon learning that the general from another department calmed down and completely forgot about this incident. Although she still suggested that he go again and apologize. But such an incident did not give Chervyakov any rest.
Thinking all night, the hero of the story “Death of an Official” could not sleep. He started the new day by getting himself in order: he cut his hair, changed into a new uniform and went to Brizzhalov’s office to talk with him and, of course, apologize.
But on this day the civil general had quite a lot of visitors. A lot of people were already crowding in the reception room when Ivan Dmitrievich arrived, and Brizzhalov himself had already begun the reception. After talking with several petitioners, the civil general raised his eyes to Chervyakov, as if asking him what he wanted.
And here the petty official, stuttering and embarrassed, again began to ask for forgiveness for his action yesterday, which he committed accidentally. But this angered the civil general even more, and he tried to quickly get rid of this conversation, and also from Chervyakov himself, turning to other visitors.
But this whole situation did not give Ivan Dmitrievich any peace and he did not want to leave the reception hall without talking, as it seemed to him, with the offended civil general. It seemed to him that Brizzhalov was angry with him, and this did not give him peace, he decided to try again. But the main character of the story “The Death of an Official” first decided to wait until the end of the reception, and as soon as Brizzhalov stopped talking with the last visitor and was already heading deeper into the rooms, Chervyakov resumed his attempts.
He began to tell the civil general how much he regretted what happened and how much he repented. But Brizzhalov’s face was very distorted, as if he was about to cry from these apologies. He abruptly closed the door right in front of Ivan Dmitrievich’s nose, deciding that he was simply mocking him.
Chervyakov decided not to come to Brizzhalov anymore, since he did not want to communicate with him, but he had to apologize somehow. So Ivan Dmitrievich chose a new path of apology: write a letter to the civil general, detailing all his apologies. He spent the entire evening composing this letter, but somehow it never came together. Therefore, the next morning Chervyakov again went to Brizzhalov to apologize.
With his apologies, he angered the civil general so much that he could not stand it and kicked Chervyakov out of the reception room, even stamping his feet. This not only upset the main character of the story “Death of an Official,” but also led to great horror.
At that very moment, Chervyakov, upset and seriously frightened, had something interesting happen in his stomach, as if something had come off there. He managed to quietly slip out the door and then slowly and quietly trudged along the streets, not noticing anything around him. But at home, petty official Ivan Dmitrievich Chervyakov, completely upset, lay down on the sofa and died immediately.

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov repeatedly lifted the veil of history over the clerical world of the Tsar's clerks and clerks, which had sunk into oblivion. However, those masterfully described types of people generated by the bureaucratic system remained unchanged. Downtrodden, narrow-minded, hypocritical and driven crazy by their hierarchical dependence, the victims of work will still make their sensible acquaintances laugh, and the master of words more than a hundred years ago gave them such an apt description that is still relevant. She is especially interesting in the story “The Death of an Official.”

Chekhov shows true and false values: true value is internal freedom from patterns of behavior and the authorities of superiors, and false value is the desire to please the masters in everything and elevate them to grotesque proportions. It is not for nothing that he chose the “humorous story” genre for his work “The Death of an Official.” This is to ridicule the false values formed by society. The writer ridicules such vices as sycophancy, veneration for rank and the desire to get used to the situation, opportunism, in other words.

What is the work about?

The story tells how the executor Chervyakov was watching the play “The Bells of Corneville” and accidentally sneezed on the bald head of the civil general Brizzhalov, an employee of the Department of Railways, who was sitting in front of him: “I sprayed him!” - he thought. - Not my boss, a stranger, but still awkward. I need to apologize." He leaned over and apologized; a spectator in the front row said, “It’s no big deal.” However, it seemed to the official that His Excellency was being disingenuous and would not forgive the insult. Although it was not his direct superior, a representative of another department, the troublemaker was very alarmed and approached during intermission, but the dignitary again said that there was nothing to worry about.

At home, he complained to his wife, but his wife did not pay due attention to the incident. The next day, Chervyakov again failed to ask for forgiveness and heard that what happened was a trifle. Then he thought: “He doesn’t want to talk! - he thought, turning pale. “He’s angry, that means... No, you can’t leave it like that... I’ll explain it to him...” and decided to ask for forgiveness again the next day, but the general kicked him out with anger. “Something came loose in his stomach. Seeing nothing, hearing nothing, he backed away to the door, went out into the street and trudged... Arriving automatically home, without taking off his uniform, he lay down on the sofa and... died.” The essence of Chekhov's work “The Death of an Official” is to show what insane veneration of rank can bring a person to.

The main characters and their characteristics

To enhance the expressiveness of the text, the author uses speaking surnames. Bryuzzhalov - from the word “grumble”, that is, to grumble. Chervyakov - from the word “worm”, that is, the surname originates from an insignificant and blind animal. This means that the hero is meant by the author as a pitiful, helpless insect.

Ivan Dmitrievich Chervyakov– executor. The character's inner world is as narrow as a worm: it is limited to service. What worries him most is the opinion of society about him, and he respects the opinion of his superiors like the law. When he accidentally sneezed, he perceived it as a terrible disaster. He was so excited by the general’s reaction that he simply made it up, painting it in the most eerie colors. This means that his life is so empty that, apart from service, he doesn’t care about anything. He reached the point of complete self-denial in the name of “serving” the higher ranks. Essentially, it inner world is a projection of the external: its form, its position, its status in society. He has nothing personal, he has completely adapted to external circumstances, burying his individuality. Standing out for him is a grave sin. He doesn’t want to express himself, but to express someone else’s interests. The image of the main character in Chekhov's story “The Death of an Official” opens the theme of the little man, widespread in Russian literature. The character is humiliated by society, overwhelmed by his eternally subordinate position. He is completely dependent on the will of the boss and his readiness to give permission for anything. Gradually, he learned to serve rather than serve, in order to somehow provide stability for himself and his family. He got so accustomed to this role that he stopped seeing obvious things and feeling anything other than humiliation. The evolution of the character, which we can only guess, turns out to be a degradation of personality to the level of an impersonal clerk. There is nothing human left in him, only a list job descriptions and the standards of decency, which he brings to the grotesque. There is not even a description of Ivan Dmitrievich Chervyakov in the text.

Brizzhalov(State General for the Department of Railways) - a venerable and respected official, accustomed to unconditional obedience. However, he is embarrassed to seriously discuss the topic of Chervyakov’s act; he wants to pretend that nothing happened. But the intrusiveness of the culprit of the incident infuriates him. The dignitary, who is already not very kind to his lower-ranking colleague, rudely kicks him out, losing his human appearance. He screams, swears, loses all his coldness and imaginary good manners. His inability to restrain his emotions reveals him to be a typical tyrant, who continually lashes out at his subordinates. Brizzhalov’s characterization is his post. He, too, is devoid of individual traits and appears before us as just another bearer of the signs of a particular position.

Themes

Penetration public life into the private, replacing reality with its absurd parody.
In addition, Chekhov touches on his favorite theme of internal slavery and impoverishment of the spirit. He skillfully mixes the funny and the sad, revealing the absurdity of government existence, focused only on service.
The theme of melancholy stands out in the text. The author portrays a hero who is burdened by his position, and the reader understands what is, why. "The Death of an Official" reveals the tragedy of a humiliated individual.
The culture of admiration for superiors is a problem of society, its incorrect structure, where inequality is caused by a religious message. If the king is God’s anointed, and the nobles are his associates, then their imaginary superiority is from God. That is, from childhood, people are implanted with the myth that someone is better than them by birthright. This is the problem of the tsarist regime, which gave birth to such Chervyakovs.
The theme of the little man also makes itself felt; the author embodies it through the image of the main character. Such an insignificant and defenseless person is doomed to vegetate in a big and cruel world.

Issues

This work reflects many both eternal and pressing problems.

The problem of honor. In his story “The Death of Officials,” Chekhov raises the problem of an incorrect change of guidelines: the executor is more important than the opinion of the general, and not the fate of the family, for example. A person changes his personal values to corporate ones. This threatens a dangerous transformation from an individual into an official.
Arbitrariness. Another problem is that superiors actually pose a threat to subordinates. Any professional can be fired absolutely without reason; no one controls the activities of managers.
The author also did not ignore indifference in the family: the official’s wife did not provide him with adequate support.
Inequality. It doesn’t even occur to the characters that the relationship between them should not be hierarchical, each of them does not recognize himself as equal to the other, and in this state of affairs social contradictions cannot be avoided.

This is what this story makes you think about: how not to become just a mechanism of the state machine and not kill the soul before the body? Thus, the problems of the story are very rich, despite small form works.

the main idea

Unfortunately, the realities of Russia at that time were such that the tyranny of a boss could make any of his subordinates a beggar. All kinds public services enslaved souls that froze forever in captivity and awe before a superior person. The main idea of the story is to show how a person loses his dignity while trying not to lose his position. Chekhov draws the reader's attention to how society destroys natural patterns and forces the average person to behave unnaturally: fear the boss to death, for example.

Even the title of the work already speaks of the writer’s intention. The idea of the story “The Death of an Official” is to show how a person loses his face and becomes just an official, who is killed by his own desire to serve his masters in everything. He is so insignificant that his life is limited to service, and his dignity is limited to “decent behavior in public,” as Chervyakov’s wife aptly put it, who is more concerned about what people will say than about her husband’s well-being.

Indeed, the book talks about the fact that it was not a person who died, but an official. The reason for his death is blatant veneration, since the hero lost his nerves due to the fact that he did not please his superiors. It was not the real tragedy that was the basis for this, but the illusory reality of uniforms, in which the subordinate forgets about his own dignity and becomes a slave to the state system of coercion. The meaning of the story is that instead of life, he has the illusion of life, where values are replaced by fictitious ranks and regalia, and virtues supplant vices: hypocrisy and sycophancy.

What does the story teach?

The author seriously describes an essentially curious situation: the character drove himself to death because of such a trifle. It’s quite funny to watch how the hero cannot understand simple things, which simply bores the general with his nonsense. He, like a clown, slips again and again on a banana peel and falls theatrically, bruising his forehead, but he does not understand what is happening. He perceives the ordinary words of His Excellency as sophisticated hints and slyness, attributes cunning and hypocrisy to him, although, in fact, the incident is over, and the person has forgotten to think about it. Chekhov dispassionately and seriously talks about what is funny, because we ourselves make fun of such ridiculous and pathetic clerks. The moral in the story “The Death of an Official” is not to ridicule, but to feel sorry for such people; they are deeply unhappy, but they are not the only ones to blame for this inferiority. The entire unjust social order is to blame for this. This is the conclusion to which the writer leads his thoughts. It is not the abstract Chervyakov who needs to change, but the entire society.