Main characters
Professor Preobrazhensky | Being a cultured and independent person, the professor openly speaks out against Soviet power. His persistent conviction and position is the belief that it is necessary to resist devastation not through violent coercion, but through culture. During an experiment on a stray dog, the professor fails, but still tries to instill in him basic cultural and moral skills. Preobrazhensky admits that the “new man” turned out to be absolutely useless. |
Dr. Bormenthal | In “The Heart of a Dog,” the hero Ivan Arnoldovich Bormental is a young and talented assistant professor. An extremely decent and well-mannered person. Once upon a time, a professor helped a disadvantaged student. When Sharikov wrote a slander against the professor, his student showed fortitude and strength of character. Bormenthal turned the professor's creation back into a dog. |
Polygraph Poligrafovich Sharikov | An ordinary but colorful representative of the thirties of the last century became the material for scientific activity. A drinking man without a specific job, who has repeatedly broken the law. He has a cantankerous character. Like the majority of ordinary people, he dreams of becoming one of the people, but he does not want to learn anything. Sharikov absorbs the bad like a sponge. The passion for killing animals illustrates the willingness to do the same with any person, if necessary. |
Dog Sharik | On behalf of the stray dog Sharik, who was picked up on the street by Professor Preobrazhensky, the story is told at the beginning of the story and at the end. Sharik is a grateful, affectionate, but cunning dog who has experienced hunger and hardship on the street. Philip Filippovich Preobrazhensky conducted an experiment on “rejuvenation” on this dog, transplanting the pituitary gland and testes of Klim Chugunkin, who died in a drunken fight. as a result, there was not rejuvenation, but a complete humanization of the dog, which turned into the vile Polygraph Poligrafovich Sharikov. |
Bulgakov. "Heart of a Dog" (main characters)
The story “Heart of a Dog” was written in 1925 in the fantasy genre with a touch of irony. One could say that the story is written in the genre of science fiction, but no. It's more of an ironic parody of science fiction. A representative of the Russian intelligentsia, Bulgakov had a negative attitude towards the revolution and the devastation in the country. As a doctor, he was interested in discoveries and innovations in the field of medicine. The prototype of Professor Preobrazhensky was his uncle, the famous Moscow gynecologist N. M. Pokrovsky.
The main characters of Bulgakov’s story “Heart of a Dog”:
Professor Philip Philipovich Preobrazhensky is an older man, with a bushy mustache, a man of a sharp, ironic mind, a typical intellectual. “Worldwide importance due to male gonads.” He loves the theater and sings serenades when in a good mood. The professor refuses to buy magazines from the girl manager not at all because he is sorry for the money, or because he does not sympathize with the children of Germany, he understands that children cannot be helped in this way. It is unlikely that the money raised from the magazines will reach the children. He also understands that it is useless to explain the reason for his refusal, so he refers to a banal reluctance to buy them. Positive hero.
Doctor Bormental Ivan Arnoldovich is an assistant to Professor Preobrazhensky, a young man with a pleasant voice and a sharp beard. A capable and talented physician admires Professor Preobrazhensky.
Zina is a nurse and house help rolled into one. A kind, well-bred girl.
Daria Petrovna is a cook. He treats his work conscientiously and with soul.
Polygraph Poligrafovich Sharikov is the result of an unsuccessful experiment by Professor Preobrazhensky. The most satirical hero of the story. The professor hoped that transplantation of the human pituitary gland and testes would cause rejuvenation, but the incredible happened. The dog, under the influence of the pituitary gland, began to slowly but surely turn into a person, acquiring the habits and habits of the criminal donor. Sharikov behaved both like a man and like a dog at the same time. He chased cats, swore, destroyed the windows and dishes in the apartment, showed a penchant for alcohol, and as he passed from a dog to a person, he began to steal. He brought a girl to the apartment and stated that he wanted to live with her, and harassed the women living in the apartment. He fell under the negative influence of Shvonder, and even under his leadership began to write denunciations against the professor. These denunciations were the last straw that forced the professor and doctor Bormental to return Sharik his brain and, accordingly, his appearance.
Shvonder is the head of the house management. In the story, house management represents socialist power and is depicted in negative colors, with a touch of sarcasm. 4 young men showed up to the professor, and it was completely unclear which of them were male and which were female. Sort of unisex. It’s not that the girl dressed in a man’s suit looked like a guy, but the guys also looked somehow feminine. One of the four is Shvonder. He set out to compact the professor's apartment at any cost, despite the fact that the professor had a document that retained his right to the area that he owned. When Sharikov appeared, the building manager tried to influence the professor through him. At the end of the story, Shvonder descended to denunciations.
In the story “Heart of a Dog,” Bulgakov spoke impartially about the Soviet regime from the first lines. A cook who worked in a Soviet establishment threw boiling water at Sharik. Thief and greedy. In the socialist “Council of Normal Nutrition,” borscht is cooked from rotten corned beef. But the cook of the Counts Tolsty felt sorry for the dogs and threw them a bone with the remains of meat. Professor Preobrazhensky believes that reading Soviet newspapers has a negative effect on digestion, and people who read these newspapers in the morning lose weight. And finally, the office where Sharikov went to work is also a caricature of a Soviet institution. Therefore, it is not surprising that this story was banned for many years.
Character Description
Ivan Arnoldovich Bormental is a student and assistant of the great scientist Philip Philipovich Preobrazhensky, engaged in research in the field of gerontology (rejuvenation). Hardworking and knowledge-seeking, Bormental worked at the department after graduation and later became an assistant professor.
Dr. Bormenthal is happy to work under the guidance of a talented scientist known throughout the world. In addition, the young man is not rich and is eternally grateful to his mentor for his help and support during his penniless student years. The doctor takes his responsibilities very seriously; he strictly follows all the professor’s orders .
During an experiment on a dog named Sharik, Bormenthal kept a diary in which he described in detail the metamorphoses occurring with the animal. The unexpected transformation of a dog into a human creates problems in the professor's apartment, where previously there was a calm atmosphere. The experimental creature inherited the violent temper and antisocial tendencies of the alcoholic and criminal Klim Chugunkin, whose organs were implanted into Sharik’s body. Preobrazhensky comes to the conclusion that he made a mistake, but does not dare to correct it.
Philip Philipovich, a middle-aged man, is unable to cope with the arrogant and ill-mannered Sharikov. It was during this difficult period that Bormental’s fortitude and devotion to the professor manifested themselves . To protect the teacher, Ivan Arnoldovich moves in with him and from time to time subdues the experimental subject using physical force.
During a private conversation, the doctor invites Preobrazhensky to destroy the product of a failed experiment, but he refuses. First of all, he is worried about the freedom and reputation of his student. Philip Philipovich sees in him not only a good assistant and a good friend, but also a talented specialist, calling him “the future Professor Bormental.”
There are no negative characters in Philip Philipovich’s inner circle. Dr. Bormenthal also fit harmoniously into this environment. Wikipedia gives a detailed description of the plot and other characters.
Doctor Bormenthal image and characteristics
Doctor Bormenthal image and characteristics
1. General characteristics . Doctor Ivan Arnoldovich Bormental is one of the main characters in M. A. Bulgakov’s story “The Heart of a Dog.”
This is a young scientist, closest and devoted friend, colleague and assistant of Professor Preobrazhensky.
Equally with his mentor and teacher, Bormenthal has a negative attitude towards the excesses of the Soviet regime. He is ready to support Philip Philipovich in any situation.
2. Appearance and demeanor . Honesty and sincerity are clearly expressed in Bormenthal's face. Usually his eyes are “bold and straight,” but when Sharik is preparing for surgery, a false expression appears in them.
Physically, the doctor still resembles a student, but has “strong, thin arms.” Ivan Arnoldovich takes care of his own appearance, as befits a well-mannered and educated person.
His clothes are exactly appropriate to the situation: a robe when working, a decent suit in everyday life, “a shirt and blue suspenders” in a relaxed home environment.
Bormenthal always behaves correctly and politely. However, driven to the extreme by Sharikov’s impudence, he can become “wild and terrible” with eyes resembling “two black muzzles.”
3. Bormenthal's nobility and dedication. Private practice brings Professor Preobrazhensky and his student a substantial income. However, Ivan Arnoldovich is not attracted by earnings. He may blush as he accepts justly deserved money. The doctor literally idolizes his mentor (“He has no equal in Europe”).
He considers his help to the professor to be a service to the development of world science (in which, in general, he is not mistaken). Bormental happily takes on part of Preobrazhensky’s problems: searching for a “fresh” corpse, raising Sharikov, resolving conflicts with patients, etc. Only for the sake of the professor, he partially neglects the rules of decency and applies methods of physical force to Poligraf Poligrafovich.
4. Bormenthal's worldview. Unlike Preobrazhensky, Ivan Arnoldovich views life more prosaically. His youth and inexperience allow him to succumb in some ways to the demands of the new era. In a conversation with the professor, he objects: “You look at things too gloomily... they have now changed dramatically.” Bormenthal thinks that the cause of all troubles is, after all, devastation. He already perceives Preobrazhensky’s reasonable arguments as “counter-revolutionary things.”
If the professor believes that when dealing with a living creature one should be guided only by affection, then Bormental is ready to act with new revolutionary methods. Ivan Arnoldovich is convinced that the “only outcome” in an unpleasant and dangerous situation with Sharikov is murder. Not wanting to involve his mentor in this matter, he decisively declares: “I will kill him.”
5. Role in the plot. Bormenthal is directly involved in the preparation and conduct of the experiment, attempts to turn the former dog into a decent person. But the doctor’s main merit is his concern for the teacher. In the end, it is Bormental’s real view of things that saves Preobrazhensky and saves him from the much more terrible consequences of the experiment.
The doctor's harsh treatment constantly forces Sharikov to limit his demands and behave with dignity. In the climactic scene, Ivan Arnoldovich disarms Poligraf Poligrafovich. This leads to Preobrazhensky's consent to a repeat operation. The happy ending would have been simply impossible without the help of a young, humble scientist.
Appearance
Ivan Arnoldovich Bormental is an assistant to Professor F. F. Preobrazhensky and his best student.
The author introduces Bormental to readers as a very handsome young man with the appearance of a typical intellectual: a sharp black beard, a black suit, a white shirt, suspenders... The professor, who is already 60 years old, sometimes calls him a sweet boy, darling, which speaks of a special, warm relationship between them . Preobrazhensky does not hide his attitude towards Bormental, considering him a capable doctor. But in everyday matters, he often lectures the young man, explains to him some rules of etiquette at the table, the difference in types of vodka, and convinces him not to read Soviet newspapers before lunch, so as not to spoil his digestion.
