The story "The Double" (Dostoevsky): a summary

It may seem, and to some extent it is so, that the work of FM Dostoevsky "The Double", written in 1846, is a long, very gloomy and boring story from the genre of the classical Romantic era about the doppelganger, the twin of a man-the dark side Personality and antipode of the guardian angel. In such works, in some authors, their hero can not cast shadows and not be reflected in the mirror. This often portended the death of the character. The double becomes the embodiment of the shadow unconscious content (habits, desires, instincts, etc.) with his "decent and pleasant" ideas about himself. This double begins to feed at the expense of the protagonist and as it weakens and wilting becomes stronger, more self-confident, displaces it and takes its place.

Analysis of the story

Dostoyevsky made his very unique work "Double" very difficult for understanding. A summary of it will be presented below.

However, there is something to think about and reflect on, because Dostoevsky is digging too deeply into the human soul, trying to get out of it everything that many of us do not want to see and notice. And that's why it's not so easy to come to the right conclusions right away.

Dostoevsky was 24 years old when he wrote this story, or a poem, as he himself called it. It was published in the journal "Otechestvennye zapiski" after the "Poor People". In the image of the hero Golyadkin, the writer used the character traits of writer J.P. Butkov, whose fate was a bit like the life of the protagonist. And he wrote mostly on the topic of a small man - a petty official, the capital's poor, who was constantly in material need, always trembling with the bosses. He knew this topic very well, because he himself was like that.

"Double" (Dostoevsky): a summary

The main character - Yakov Petrovich Golyadkin - occupies the post of titular adviser. By itself, he is harmless, simple-minded and gentle. About himself, he repeatedly said that he is a straightforward man, not an intriguer and masks only wears a masquerade, as is customary in secular circles. These qualities, he tries to pass off for his own virtues every time in conversation.

Golyadkin feels small, weak and not protected. His unconscious fears, infringed ambitions and complexes showed in him a painful suspiciousness and a tendency to see resentment in words, gestures and actions. It constantly seems to him that intrigues around him are spinning around him, that they are digging under him.

Reception at Rutenspitz

One gray autumn day the hero wakes up at home, goes to the mirror, looks into it and sees there his "sleepy, blind and pretty stitched figure", but, however, remains pleased with it. And then he takes out his wallet and counts 750 rubles in it with the words that there is a noble sum.

Thus begins the development of Dostoevsky's novel The Double. The summary further narrates that the hero is going and is going to the reception to his doctor - Krustian Ivanovich Rutenspitz.

At a meeting, he begins to talk with him abruptly, confusedly and constantly confused. He calls himself a humble and unpretentious person who loves peace, not secular noise, where one must be able to compose a compliment of a heartfelt compilation, and he did not learn cunning. Then he starts talking without stopping that he is a small man, not an intriguer, which he is proud of. Golyadkin is indignant at the matchmaking of his nephew, Andrei Filippovich. Like, the rumors go, about the "close friend" that he gave the subscription to marry, and he is on the other side of the groom, and the bride is just a shameless German woman, Karolina Ivanovna. Then Yakov Petrovich leaves, thinking that the doctor is stupid and does not understand anything, which leaves Krestjan Ivanovich in complete perplexity.

And then Golyadkin goes to a dinner party and a ball to the state councilor Berendeev Olsufy Ivanovich in honor of Klara Olsufyevna's birthday - his daughter. But the servant on the threshold tells him that he is not allowed to be allowed. Then Yakov Petrovich decides to sneak inside. At the ball is crowded, and the gaze of people immediately stop at Golyadkin. He is frightened from fear into a corner and feels like a bug. And then they even turn him out into the street.

Someone

And then the summary of Dostoyevsky's "Double" continues with the description of nature. The night was terrible, November, foggy, cold and wet. Golyadkin escapes from "his enemies" by flight. He also wanted to escape from himself or "destroy himself." For a moment he stopped and looked into the murky black water of the river.

This is where his very mysterious double appears. Dostoevsky (a short summary also conveys this) sings his work with very one very strange and curious event.

Suddenly upset, Yakov Petrovich notices that on the sidewalk with a light pritrusochkoy there is a passer-by, who then several times will meet him on the road. And the most terrible thing was for him to meet a stranger at home. And this Somebody turned out to be his double in every respect - another Yakov Petrovich Golyadkin.

And in the morning he met him in his office at work. It was a new employee with the same name and appearance, but among his colleagues he did not cause any bewilderment.

After work, the twin expressed a desire to explain himself to Yakov Petrovich, who immediately invited him to his home.

Dinner

The host picks a guest, pours a punch and feeds dinner, and so gets sympathetic to him, that he proposes to be brothers with him, to start intrigues at a peak to the enemies, and at the same time to cunning. Early in the morning the guest left unnoticed. Now Goliadkin's double begins to curry favor with his superiors in the lowest way, heaves insidious intrigues, humiliates him before other officials: he plucks his cheek, then clicks his belly.

The real Golyadkin could not get rid of such insults: after the service, seeing a double on the stairs, he tries to start a conversation with him, but he unceremoniously sits in a coach and leaves.

Now this double often runs around the bosses in important and special cases. Dostoevsky's brief content of strange events is heating up to impossibility. Pulled to the extreme, Yakov Petrovich writes a letter to his counterpart-abuser, in which he asks for an explanation. Petrushka he punishes to find out his address. The servant soon reports that he lives on Shestilavachnaya Street, but Golyadkin realizes that this is his address, and decides that the idler Petrushka is drunk and does not understand what he is saying.

Letter from a woman

In the morning Golyadkin overslept and was late for the service. In his department he sends a letter to Mr. Yakov Petrovich, a double. Colleagues look at this Golyadkin with arrogant curiosity, and he seeks sympathy from all, but does not find it. With his double, he tries to explain himself in the coffee, but all in vain.

After Golyadkin discovers a letter from Clara Olsufyevna, who tearfully asks for her to be saved and appoints him a meeting. He climbed into his pocket and found a vial of medicine, which Kresty Ivanovich prescribed to him a few days ago. It falls out of the hands and breaks.

Yakov Petrovich hires a carriage and goes first to His Excellency to ask for protection, but he is expelled to the front. Then Golyadkin rushes to Berendeyev and waits for a signal from Klara Olsufyevna. But soon the guests notice him, and his double asks to go to Olsufy Ivanovich. He comes and sits down beside him. Soon, in the crowd, it is said: "He's coming, he's on his way!" Krestyan Ivanovich appears in the room, taking Yakov Petrovich with him. At this time, a double runs behind the carriage, but soon it disappears. And the main character with horror understands that Krestyan Petrovich some not so, quite unlike the former. Golyadkin realizes that he has already foreseen this for a long time.

Here is such a sad note in his work Fyodor Dostoevsky. "Double" (a brief summary, as we see, ended very sadly for the main character) is a work that could brilliantly finish his literary career, as the critic Belinsky would say. However, for Dostoevsky it was only the beginning ...