Shvonder dog heart characteristics. Essay Bulgakov M.A.

Subject of the work

At one time, M. Bulgakov’s satirical story caused a lot of talk. In “Heart of a Dog” the heroes of the work are bright and memorable; The plot is fantasy mixed with reality and subtext, in which sharp criticism of the Soviet regime is openly read. Therefore, the work was very popular in the 60s among dissidents, and in the 90s, after its official publication, it was even recognized as prophetic.

The theme of the tragedy of the Russian people is clearly visible in this work; in “Heart of a Dog” the main characters enter into an irreconcilable conflict with each other and will never understand each other. And, although the proletarians won in this confrontation, Bulgakov in the novel reveals to us the whole essence of the revolutionaries and their type of new man in the person of Sharikov, leading us to the idea that they will not create or do anything good.

There are only three main characters in “Heart of a Dog,” and the narrative is mainly told from Bormenthal’s diary and through the dog’s monologue.

Characteristics of the main characters

Sharikov

A character who appeared as a result of an operation from the mongrel Sharik. A transplant of the pituitary gland and gonads of the drunkard and rowdy Klim Chugunkin turned a sweet and friendly dog ​​into Poligraf Poligrafych, a parasite and a hooligan.
Sharikov embodies all the negative traits of the new society: he spits on the floor, throws cigarette butts, does not know how to use the restroom and constantly swears. But this is not even the worst thing - Sharikov quickly learned to write denunciations and found a calling in killing his eternal enemies, cats. And while he deals only with cats, the author makes it clear that he will do the same with people who stand in his way.

Bulgakov saw this base power of the people and a threat to the entire society in the rudeness and narrow-mindedness with which the new revolutionary government resolves issues.

Professor Preobrazhensky

An experimenter who uses innovative developments in solving the problem of rejuvenation through organ transplantation. He is a famous world scientist, a respected surgeon, whose “speaking” surname gives him the right to experiment with nature.

I was used to living in grand style - servants, a house of seven rooms, luxurious dinners. His patients are former nobles and high revolutionary officials who patronize him.

Preobrazhensky is a respectable, successful and self-confident person. The professor, an opponent of any terror and Soviet power, calls them “idlers and idlers.” He considers affection the only way to communicate with living beings and denies the new government precisely for its radical methods and violence. His opinion: if people are accustomed to culture, then the devastation will disappear.

The rejuvenation operation yielded an unexpected result - the dog turned into a human. But the man turned out to be completely useless, uneducable and absorbing the worst. Philip Philipovich concludes that nature is not a field for experiments and he interfered with its laws in vain.

Dr. Bormental

Ivan Arnoldovich is completely and completely devoted to his teacher. At one time, Preobrazhensky took an active part in the fate of a half-starved student - he enrolled him in the department, and then took him on as an assistant.

The young doctor tried in every possible way to develop Sharikov culturally, and then completely moved in with the professor, as it became more and more difficult to cope with the new person.

The apotheosis was the denunciation that Sharikov wrote against the professor. At the climax, when Sharikov took out a revolver and was ready to use it, it was Bromenthal who showed firmness and toughness, while Preobrazhensky hesitated, not daring to kill his creation.

The positive characterization of the heroes of “Heart of a Dog” emphasizes how important honor and self-dignity are for the author. Bulgakov described himself and his doctor-relatives in many of the same traits as both doctors, and in many ways would have acted the same way as them.

Shvonder

The newly elected chairman of the house committee, who hates the professor as a class enemy. This is a schematic hero, without deep reasoning.

Shvonder completely bows to the new revolutionary government and its laws, and in Sharikov he sees not a person, but a new useful unit of society - he can buy textbooks and magazines, participate in meetings.

Sh. can be called Sharikov’s ideological mentor; he tells him about his rights in Preobrazhensky’s apartment and teaches him how to write denunciations. The chairman of the house committee, due to his narrow-mindedness and lack of education, always hesitates and gives in in conversations with the professor, but this makes him hate him even more.

Other heroes

The list of characters in the story would not be complete without two au pairs - Zina and Daria Petrovna. They recognize the superiority of the professor, and, like Bormenthal, are completely devoted to him and agree to commit a crime for the sake of their beloved master. They proved this at the time of the repeated operation to transform Sharikov into a dog, when they were on the side of the doctors and accurately followed all their instructions.

You have become acquainted with the characteristics of the heroes of Bulgakov’s “Heart of a Dog,” a fantastic satire that anticipated the collapse of Soviet power immediately after its emergence - the author, back in 1925, showed the whole essence of those revolutionaries and what they were capable of.

Work test

The story of M.A. Bulgakov's "Heart of a Dog" reflects the post-revolutionary era of the 20s - the time of the New Economic Policy. A realistic description of Soviet reality of this time is combined in the story with a narration about the grandiose fantastic experiment of Professor F.F. Preobrazhensky.

As a result of an operation on a dog with a transplantation of the pituitary gland of a human brain, the professor manages to obtain a new creature. The dog has become “humanized” – the dog turns into a human. This is evidenced by the entries called by the author “From the Diary

Doctor Bormental." At first, this is simply a “case history”, which describes the initial data of the “patient” - the dog Sharik, the course of the operation, and medical prescriptions. Then the patient’s condition changes: his hair falls out, his voice appears, his height increases...

Gradually he turns into a person, although poorly developed, but able to talk and then understand those around him. As a new tenant, the chairman of the house committee, Shvonder, takes him under his wing - he lays the foundations for Sharikov’s worldview (on his advice, the new person chooses a name - Poligraf Poligrafovich Sharikov). It is very important for Shvonder to exert a certain influence on Sharikov - after all, Shvonder is hostile towards Professor Preobrazhensky, considering him a bourgeois. Sharikov quickly assimilates his vulgar sociological views: everything is determined by a person’s class origin. The maid Zinka is “an ordinary servant, but has the force of a commissar.”

Philip Philipovich, of course, is “not a comrade” - “we didn’t study at universities, we didn’t live in apartments with 15 rooms with bathrooms.” Sharikov quickly learned that “nowadays everyone has his own right,” but he does not want to understand that he must also have responsibilities. Therefore, he makes many claims to the professor, but is not capable of a basic feeling of gratitude. Under the influence of Shvonder, he reads books, the content of which he does not understand, and everything that he does not understand, be it books or theater, is “counter-revolution”. Reading the correspondence between Engels and Kautsky, he “disagrees” with both; his opinion is simple: “Take everything and divide it.”

Shvonder wrote accusatory articles against the professor - Sharikov went further: he learned to write denunciations. Shvonder was surprised to see that Sharikov was leaving his influence when the conversation came up about the need for documents, registration, registration for military service - Sharikov agreed to “get registered”, but categorically refused to fight. When Sharikov drank away the money borrowed to buy textbooks, Shvonder was finally convinced that Sharikov was a “scoundrel.” And yet, the socially close Sharikov is closer and more understandable to Shvonder than the class-alien Professor Preobrazhensky. Unlike Shvonder, the professor realized that Sharikov, in his meanness and arrogance, would go much further than his “educator,” showing himself to be a worthy “student.”

Bulgakov's story “The Heart of a Dog” arouses the keen interest of readers. The fantastic story, upon closer examination, is surprisingly true and accurate. Of course, it is impossible to turn a stray mongrel into a creature resembling a person. However, life can accomplish an even more amazing phenomenon - a social class may emerge whose characteristics are closer to stray dogs than to people. This is exactly what happened during the social experiment - the revolution.
What does the episode “From the Diary of Doctor Bormenthal” tell us? And why is this episode needed in the story? Is it random or does it have deep meaning? Of course, these questions cannot be answered with a superficial reading of the story. First you need to figure out who Dr. Bormenthal is. He is an assistant to Professor Preobrazhensky. In the story, he acts as a constant observer of the transformations of Sharik into Sharikov. If a person observes something or someone for a long time, then he develops a very definite and, in most cases, truthful impression regarding this or that phenomenon. This is why Bormenthal's characterizations are so accurate. He quite quickly understood the whole essence of Sharikov, although he was not able to fully understand it right away. At first, Dr. Bormenthal's diary is just a kind of medical history. However, soon medical information turns out to be insufficient to fully illuminate the picture of the transformation of a dog into a humanoid creature.
Dr. Bormenthal pays close attention to how Shvonder influences the formation of Sharikov’s personality. After all, it is Shvonder who is essentially the main active force that makes it possible for Sharikov to realize himself. Shvonder has a sharply negative attitude towards Professor Preobrazhensky; he considers the representative of the old Russian intelligentsia to be a bourgeois. Shvonder, on the contrary, treats Sharikov with great sympathy. Sharikov completely adopts Shvonder’s views. From the first minutes of meeting, these two understand that they are birds of a feather. “Of course, of course,” we understand, sir. What kind of comrades we are to you! Where else! We didn’t study at universities, and we didn’t live in apartments with more than fifteen rooms with bathrooms. Only now is the time to leave it. Nowadays everyone has their own right...
Sharikov quickly grasps the idea that he should have rights. While there is no talk of responsibilities. He has many demands on those around him, in particular on Professor Preobrazhensky. It is Shvonder who forces Sharikov to read books. But the latter’s undeveloped brain is not capable of perceiving anything. That is why in Sharikov there is a program: “Take everything, and divide it.” Everything that goes beyond understanding is perceived by him as “counter-revolution.” Sharikov surpasses his “teacher”, Shvonder. And he, with difficulty, but still begins to understand that Sharikov is a force that cannot be curbed and controlled.

Mikhail Bulgakov's story “The Heart of a Dog,” written in 1925 in Moscow, is a filigree example of sharp satirical fiction of that time. In it, the author reflected his ideas and beliefs about whether a person needs to interfere with the laws of evolution and what this can lead to. The topic touched upon by Bulgakov remains relevant in modern real life and will never cease to disturb the minds of all progressive humanity.

After its publication, the story caused a lot of speculation and controversial judgments, because it was distinguished by the bright and memorable characters of the main characters, an extraordinary plot in which fantasy was closely intertwined with reality, as well as an undisguised, sharp criticism of Soviet power. This work was very popular among dissidents in the 60s, and after its reissue in the 90s it was generally recognized as prophetic. In the story “Heart of a Dog,” the tragedy of the Russian people is clearly visible, which is divided into two warring camps (red and white) and in this confrontation only one must win. In his story, Bulgakov reveals to readers the essence of the new victors - proletarian revolutionaries, and shows that they cannot create anything good and worthy.

History of creation

This story is the final part of a previously written cycle of satirical stories by Mikhail Bulgakov of the 20s, such as “The Diaboliad” and “Fatal Eggs”. Bulgakov began writing the story “Heart of a Dog” in January 1925 and finished it in March of the same year; it was originally intended for publication in the Nedra magazine, but was not censored. And all of its contents were known to Moscow literature lovers, because Bulgakov read it in March 1925 at the Nikitsky Subbotnik (literary circle), later it was copied by hand (the so-called “samizdat”) and thus distributed to the masses. In the USSR, the story “Heart of a Dog” was first published in 1987 (6th issue of the Znamya magazine).

Analysis of the work

Story line

The basis for the development of the plot in the story is the story of the unsuccessful experiment of Professor Preobrazhensky, who decided to turn the homeless mongrel Sharik into a human. To do this, he transplants the pituitary gland of an alcoholic, parasite and rowdy Klim Chugunkin, the operation is successful and a completely “new man” is born - Poligraph Poligrafovich Sharikov, who, according to the author’s idea, is a collective image of the new Soviet proletarian. The “new man” is distinguished by a rude, arrogant and deceitful character, a boorish manner of behavior, a very unpleasant, repulsive appearance, and the intelligent and well-mannered professor often has conflicts with him. Sharikov, in order to register in the professor’s apartment (to which he believes he has every right), enlists the support of a like-minded and ideological teacher, the chairman of the Shvonder house committee, and even finds himself a job: he catches stray cats. Driven to the extreme by all the antics of the newly minted Polygraph Sharikov (the last straw was the denunciation of Preobrazhensky himself), the professor decides to return everything as it was and turns Sharikov back into a dog.

Main characters

The main characters of the story “Heart of a Dog” are typical representatives of Moscow society of that time (the thirties of the twentieth century).

One of the main characters at the center of the story is Professor Preobrazhensky, a world-famous scientist, a respected person in society who adheres to democratic views. He deals with the issues of rejuvenating the human body through animal organ transplants, and strives to help people without causing them any harm. The professor is depicted as a respectable and self-confident person, having a certain weight in society and accustomed to living in luxury and prosperity (he has a large house with servants, among his clients are former nobles and representatives of the highest revolutionary leadership).

Being a cultured person and possessing an independent and critical mind, Preobrazhensky openly opposes Soviet power, calling the Bolsheviks who came to power “idlers” and “idlers”; he is firmly convinced that it is necessary to fight devastation not with terror and violence, but with culture, and believes that the only way to communicate with living beings is through affection.

Having conducted an experiment on the stray dog ​​Sharik and turned him into a human, and even tried to instill in him basic cultural and moral skills, Professor Preobrazhensky undergoes a complete fiasco. He admits that his “new man” turned out to be completely useless, does not lend himself to education and learns only bad things (Sharikov’s main conclusion after studying Soviet propaganda literature is that everything needs to be divided, and doing this by the method of robbery and violence). The scientist understands that one cannot interfere with the laws of nature, because such experiments do not lead to anything good.

The professor's young assistant, Dr. Bormenthal, is a very decent and devoted person to his teacher (the professor at one time took part in the fate of a poor and hungry student, and he responded with devotion and gratitude). When Sharikov reached the limit, having written a denunciation of the professor and having stolen a pistol, he wanted to use it, it was Bormental who showed fortitude and toughness of character, deciding to turn him back into a dog, while the professor was still hesitating.

Describing these two doctors, old and young, from the positive side, emphasizing their nobility and self-esteem, Bulgakov sees in their descriptions himself and his relatives, doctors, who in many situations would have acted in exactly the same way.

The absolute opposites of these two positive heroes are people of modern times: the former dog Sharik himself, who became Polygraph Poligrafovich Sharikov, the chairman of the house committee Shvonder and other “tenants”.

Shvonder is a typical example of a member of the new society who fully and completely supports Soviet power. Hating the professor as a class enemy of the revolution and planning to get part of the professor’s living space, he uses Sharikov for this, telling him about the rights to the apartment, giving him documents and pushing him to write a denunciation against Preobrazhensky. Himself, being a narrow-minded and uneducated person, Shvonder gives in and hesitates in conversations with the professor, and this makes him hate him even more and makes every effort to annoy him as much as possible.

Sharikov, whose donor was a bright average representative of the Soviet thirties of the last century, an alcoholic without a specific job, three times convicted lumpen-proletariat Klim Chugunkin, twenty-five years old, is distinguished by his absurd and arrogant character. Like all ordinary people, he wants to become one of the people, but he doesn’t want to learn anything or put any effort into it. He likes to be an ignorant slob, fight, swear, spit on the floor and constantly run into scandals. However, without learning anything good, he absorbs the bad like a sponge: he quickly learns to write denunciations, finds a job he “likes” - killing cats, the eternal enemies of the canine race. Moreover, by showing how mercilessly he deals with stray cats, the author makes it clear that Sharikov will do the same with any person who comes between him and his goal.

The gradually increasing aggression, impudence and impunity of Sharikov are specially shown by the author so that the reader understands how terrible and dangerous this “Sharikovism”, emerging in the 20s of the last century, as a new social phenomenon of the post-revolutionary time, is. Such Sharikovs, found all over the Soviet society, especially those in power, pose a real threat to society, especially to intelligent, intelligent and cultured people, whom they hate fiercely and try to destroy in every possible way. Which, by the way, happened later, when during Stalin’s repressions the color of the Russian intelligentsia and military elite was destroyed, as Bulgakov predicted.

Features of compositional construction

The story “The Heart of a Dog” combines several literary genres; in accordance with the plot of the storyline, it can be classified as a fantastic adventure in the image and likeness of “The Island of Dr. Moreau” by H.G. Wells, which also describes an experiment on breeding a human-animal hybrid. From this side, the story can be attributed to the science fiction genre that was actively developing at that time, the prominent representatives of which were Alexei Tolstoy and Alexander Belyaev. However, under the surface layer of science-adventure fiction, in fact, there turns out to be a sharp satirical parody, allegorically showing the monstrosity and failure of that large-scale experiment called “socialism”, which was carried out by the Soviet government on the territory of Russia, trying to use terror and violence to create a “new man”, born from revolutionary explosion and propagation of Marxist ideology. Bulgakov very clearly demonstrated what will come of this in his story.

The composition of the story consists of such traditional parts as the beginning - the professor sees a stray dog ​​and decides to bring him home, the climax (several points can be highlighted here) - the operation, the visit of the house committee members to the professor, Sharikov writing a denunciation against Preobrazhensky, his threats with the use of weapons, the professor's decision to turn Sharikov back into a dog, the denouement - the reverse operation, Shvonder's visit to the professor with the police, the final part - the establishment of peace and tranquility in the professor's apartment: the scientist goes about his business, the dog Sharik is quite happy with his dog's life.

Despite all the fantastic and incredible nature of the events described in the story, the author’s use of various techniques of grotesque and allegory, this work, thanks to the use of descriptions of specific signs of that time (city landscapes, various locales, life and appearance of the characters), is distinguished by its unique verisimilitude.

The events taking place in the story are described on the eve of Christmas and it is not for nothing that the professor is called Preobrazhensky, and his experiment is a real “anti-Christmas”, a kind of “anti-creation”. In a story based on allegory and fantastic fiction, the author wanted to show not only the importance of the scientist’s responsibility for his experiment, but also the inability to see the consequences of his actions, the huge difference between the natural development of evolution and revolutionary intervention in the course of life. The story shows the author's clear vision of the changes that took place in Russia after the revolution and the beginning of the construction of a new socialist system; all these changes for Bulgakov were nothing more than an experiment on people, large-scale, dangerous and having catastrophic consequences.

Shvonder is one of the heroes of M. A. Bulgakov’s story “The Heart of a Dog”; representative of the proletariat, chairman of the house committee. The author describes the hero with undisguised irony and sarcasm. He and his comrades are shown as bright representatives of the “devastation” that he so criticizes

Professor Preobrazhensky. Little is said about Shvonder’s appearance; only modest clothing and “a quarter of an arshin of thick curly black hair” are mentioned.

The chairman of the house committee clearly feels hatred for the class enemies represented by Preobrazhensky and Bormental. He and his comrades want to expropriate one room from the apartment; they clearly disapprove of the professor and his way of life.

“...the general meeting, having considered your question, came to the conclusion that, in general, you occupy excessive space. Completely excessive. You live alone in seven rooms.”

Shvonder is a great supporter of bureaucracy. For

Having the appropriate document is vital.

“It’s quite strange, professor,” Shvonder was offended, “how do you call the documents idiotic? I cannot allow an undocumented tenant to stay in the house, and not yet registered with the police. What if there is a war with imperialist predators?”

The conflict between Shvonder and Professor Preobrazhensky is a conflict between the intelligentsia and the lumpen proletarians. Shvonder and others like him stand up for the rights and freedoms of the working class, but in reality they only sow lack of culture, destruction and blind adherence to meaningless laws. They pretend to be hard workers, but in reality they are just slackers. Consider the “evening singing” that so outraged the professor.

Sharikov is interested in Shvonder from a practical point of view; for him, he is just another tenant. Shvonder is closely involved in his “education” - he instills in him the idea of ​​​​a proletarian origin, the need for documents and registration, finds him a job according to his vocation, gives him the idea of ​​​​writing a denunciation against the professor.

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