The story of A.P. Chekhov "Duel" is included in the school curriculum and is discussed in detail by senior students in literature lessons. However, this work must be read at an older age: already familiar characters are perceived differently, and their actions and thoughts make you think.
The main characters and their relationship
The action of the story "Duel" begins in a small town on the Black Sea. This is not a resort with boardwalks, beautiful promenades and secular society. Life here is measured, boring, without bright events. Local society is accidental: it unites both local residents and people who have come for a while. The latter includes one of the main characters, a future participant in the Laevsky duel.
Ivan Andreevich Laevsky is a very young man of 28 years. Despite the blooming age, he was already tired of a life that had nothing to do with fascinating novels. Laevsky has the means, he can choose any field of activity, a loving woman next to him, and besides, married, not pretending to marriage. However, Ivan Andreevich is dissatisfied: he does not want and cannot work, his mistress is tired, life in a dusty coastal town is philistinely boring and simply unbearable. He dreams of leaving, but there is no money for a normal arrangement, creditors are worried. Nekstati has died the husband of Nadezhda Fedorovna, a woman expects her beloved to marry her, as decency demands. However, Laevsky himself with horror understands that he not only does not like his roommate, but every day he hates and despises her more and more.
The reader learns all these details from a conversation between Laevsky and a military doctor Samoilenko, a local resident. The kind and patient doctor listens to the outpourings of Laevsky and tries to give advice, but the interlocutor does not hear him. He is intoxicated by his own misfortunes, compares himself with the famous literary heroes: Pechorin, Onegin, Hamlet, assures that he can not live in an atmosphere of boredom, lies and hatred. Laevsky sees a way out in moving to St. Petersburg. He wants to give up a tired lover and start a new life: interesting, bright, full of events.
Samoilenko holds the home dining room for extra income. A young zoologist von Koren and clerk Pobedov, who recently graduated from the seminary, gather every day for dinner. They discuss Laevsky, and the zoologist speaks out sharply against such parasitic people and offers to destroy them by any means. Samoilenko is categorically against, and the clerk simply does not take such statements seriously.
Another important character is Nadezhda Fedorovna, the cohabitant of Laevsky. A young woman lives in an imaginary world, reality seems to her much more rosy than Ivan Andreevich, who is always dissatisfied. Nadezhda Fedorovna considers herself a star of local society and is confident that every man is secretly fascinated by her. A woman loves her roommate, but cheated on him a couple of times with police bailiff Kirilin. She tries to forget about this shameful relationship, convincing herself that her soul is not faithful to Laevsky. Nadezhda Fedorovna also has a platonic admirer - the son of the local rich merchant Achmianov.
Plot development
The whole society goes on a picnic by a mountain river. Laevsky is in a bad mood, he does not know how to communicate with his mistress and feels the hostility of von Koren, whom he does not think to hide. The evening ends with a quarrel between Ivan Andreevich and Nadezhda Fedorovna, witnesses of which are all present. After the picnic, Laevsky asks Samoilenko to help him with money. He wants to sort things out with a roommate and leave as soon as possible. The military doctor advises reconciling with von Koren, but Ivan Andreevich is sure that the zoologist will not even want to talk to him. The only way out is to disappear immediately and break this vicious circle.
Nadezhda Fedorovna is on the verge of collapse. She found out about her husband’s death, she is very upset by Laevsky’s dislike, got confused in relations with Kirilin and Achmianov. He experiences and worries a woman begins a fever, but this does not stop Laevsky from the intention to leave. He realizes that he is acting meanly, despising himself, but does not know how to break out of this situation. Trying to keep calm, Ivan Andreevich spends the evening playing a card game, but suddenly receives a snide note, the author of which is von Koren. A hysterical seizure ensues, after which Laevsky realizes that his reputation is completely ruined.
Dramatic denouement
The predictable ending to the story is a duel between von Koren and Laevsky, the latter being the initiator. In a fit of rage, he accuses Samoilenko of gossip and, in his presence, offends von Koren. He immediately requires satisfaction.
After the call, Laevsky feels a surge of strength, but gradually realizes that the duel can end tragically. He spends the whole night before the fight in thought and comes to the conclusion that he really is to blame in many ways. On his conscience the fall of Nadezhda Fedorovna, her mistakes, shameful relationship with Kirilin. Ivan Andreevich wants to repent, he intends to return alive and save her - the only native person.
The night before the fight, von Koren and Pobedy spend in conversation about love for their neighbor and the teachings of Christ. The zoologist convinces the clerk that people like Laevsky have a destructive effect on society, decomposing and destroying it. The only way to deal with them is complete destruction. The clerk disagrees and tries to prove to the convinced materialist that any person has the right to life and is able to change his own destiny.
The day of the duel is coming. Participants do not know the rules of the duel, but try to remember how the characters behaved in the novels. Laevsky pointedly shoots into the air, but von Koren takes aim with the intention of hitting the enemy. The desperate cry of the clerk present at the duel knocks him down, a bullet flies by.
The fate of the heroes can be found in the conversation between Samoilenko and von Koren. After the duel, 3 months passed. Laevsky married Nadezhda Fedorovna, he works hard, plans to pay off debts and start a new life. Von Koren first reaches out to his former adversary. He did not part with his convictions, but admits that a person can change.
