61 pages • 2 hours read
Leo TolstoyThe Death of Ivan Ilyich
Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 1886A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Character Analysis
Ivan Ilyich Golovin
Although Ivan Ilyich, the protagonist of the story, is already dead in the first chapter, the rest of the plot covers Ivan Ilyich’s life from childhood to the moment of his death.
Ivan Ilyich goes through life expecting a logical series of predicted, calculated events to lead to professional success and personal satisfaction. He enjoys the ambition of his work and the vanity of social pleasures, while eschewing emotional connection to friends or family.
On paper, his life looks like a success: Ivan Ilyich attends law school, marries well, has a family and a fine home, and eventually becomes a judge. However, Ivan Ilyich takes a distanced attitude toward his family and keeps a professional relationship with colleagues. He dismisses his wife’s agony at the death of three of their children, characterizing her as a constant source of annoyance and frustration. He also ignores his two living kids, avoiding interacting with them in favor or work or playing cards at his club.
As he dies, however, Ivan Ilyich starts questioning whether he has lived a good life. He realizes that in always prioritizing surface propriety and outward appearances, he has lived an empty, unfulfilling existence. In his final hours, he reaches out to his son Vasya, finally experiencing the human connection he’s resisted throughout his adult life. He briefly has deep empathy for individual members of his family, and dies having lived well for several joyful moments.
Praskovya Fedorovna Golovina, née Mikhel
Though Praskovya Fedorovna is considered “the most attractive, clever, and brilliant girl” among Ivan Ilyich’s social circle when they meet (259), he marries her because she appears to be a good match, not because of any personal affection.
Soon, their relationship disintegrates. Tellingly, because we only see Praskovya Fedorovna through Ivan Ilyich’s eyes, at first, we assume that his description of her as unpleasant is accurate. Ivan Ilyich response, avoiding her and their home, may not be ideal, but it is understandable. However, we eventually learn that Praskovya Fedorovna faces horrific trauma during the marriage: Three of her five children die. Instead of being devastated alongside his wife, Ivan Ilyich dismisses her grief as querulous complaints.
Before his death, Ivan Ilyich experiences a moment of empathy as he feels pity for his longsuffering wife. However, because he can no longer speak, she has no idea that anything has shifted in their relationship. At Ivan Ilyich’s funeral, Praskovya Fedorovna does not mourn. She is more concerned with finding loopholes for a higher widow’s pension.
Peter Ivanovich
Ivan Ilyich’s colleague Peter Ivanovich has known Ivan Ilyich “first as a merry little boy, then as a schoolmate, and later as a grown-up colleague” (253). They get along because both are concerned primarily with surface things like card games and prospects for professional mobility.
Despite the fact that Ivan Ilyich considers Peter Ivanovich his closest acquaintance, the two are not friends. Peter Ivanovich only attends Ivan Ilyich’s funeral because he feels socially obligated to do so, and he is more concerned with missing the evening’s upcoming bridge game than reflecting on Ivan Ilyich’s life or death. Peter Ivanovich’s immediate concern upon hearing of Ivan Ilyich’s death is “the changes and promotions it might occasion” (247). Though Peter Ivanovich is briefly struck with horror at the thought of Ivan Ilyich’s deathbed suffering, his concern is primarily a selfish one: He is “afraid for himself” at the thought of death (253).
Gerasim
Ivan Ilyich’s servant Gerasim is a foil to Ivan Ilyich in several ways. Physically, he is Ivan Ilyich’s opposite: An “always cheerful and bright” young man who provides a visual contrast to the protagonist, his strong arms and “glistening white teeth” and strong arms (284) highlighting Ivan Ilyich’s emaciated body and rotting breath. Gerasim is selfless and innately empathetic—the only person to show compassion toward Ivan Ilyich in his dying days, Gerasim unhesitatingly drops everything when Ivan Ilyich needs his support (285), and does not find his work burdensome (286). Gerasim puts faith in God and does not fear death, unlike the other characters, who avoid the subject of death. Finally, Gerasim is the only person who does not imagine how he will benefit from Ivan Ilyich’s death—he alone in the novella is not concerned with social status.
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By Leo Tolstoy
