THE IMAGES OF DOCTORS IN THE PLAY BY A.P. CHEKHOV’S “IVANOV” AND THE STORY “WARD NO. 6”

Abstract

. The article compares images of doctors in works of A.P. Chekhov: young zemstvo doctor Lvov from the play “Ivanov” and doctor Ragin from the story “Ward No. 6”. The main criterion for the correlation is their possession of the qualities of activity or inactivity. It is noted that doctor Lvov is a very active person who is sincerely concerned about the condition of his patient. At the same time, he is honest and straightforward, but limited, has a narrow mind, is not able to understand the depth of the human personality. Doctor Ragin, on the other hand, is an inactive person, from whose passivity patients suffer, and things in the hospital go badly. Nevertheless, he has an inner depth, is able to understand the dialectics of life, its complexity and variability. External activity and internal passivity of Lvov are contrasted with external inactivity and internal activity of Ragin. Both states are not positive, but it is Lvov’s activity that leads to the most disastrous consequences: his words push the hero to commit suicide. Ragin’s inactivity turns out to be dangerous, first of all, for himself: he is declared insane and dies.