# Three Deaths explained — The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories

> Chapter companion for The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories by Leo Tolstoy.

## What happens

The chapter contrasts the deaths of three beings: a wealthy, consumptive lady who dies in comfort but with spiritual emptiness; a poor, consumptive coach driver, Fyodor, who dies with resignation in a hut; and a tree, felled to make a cross for the driver's grave. It explores the differing attitudes towards death across social classes and the natural world.

## Themes in this chapter

### Social Class and Hierarchy

Sharp contrast between the ornate, candlelit death of the lady and the forgotten, unmarked grave of the driver, Fyodor.

### Fate, Injustice, and Suffering

Explores the universal inevitability of death, but the injustice in how it is memorialized based on social standing.

### Rural Life and the Landowner

The driver's death occurs in a communal, stifling hut, while the lady's occurs in isolation within a 'great house', reflecting their stations.

## Character check-ins

### The Lady

A wealthy, consumptive woman traveling to seek treatment. She is irritable, fearful of death, and spiritually disconnected despite her material comfort.

### Matryóna

The lady's maid, referred to as Matryosha. She is healthy and robust, but awkward and fearful in the presence of her dying mistress.

### The Husband

The lady's husband, who is concerned but ineffectual, discussing turning back from their journey.

### The Doctor

Attends to the lady, taking her pulse and advising on the journey.

### Fyodor

A sick coach driver dying of consumption in the station hut. He is resigned and gives his boots away.

### Seryoga

A driver who promises to buy a stone for Fyodor's grave but instead cuts down a tree in the forest to make a cross.

## Key lines

> 'Thou unveilest Thy face, and they are confounded... Thou takest from them Thy breath, they die and return to the dust from which they came.'

The deacon reads psalms about mortality and returning to dust over the lady's coffin.

_Highlights the solemn, ritualized response to death in high society, contrasted with the driver's practical, forgotten end._

> 'It’ll be a sin in you, Seryoga... if you don’t buy a stone for Fyodor.'

The cook scolds Seryoga for not buying a headstone for the dead driver as he promised.

_Shows the communal memory and moral obligations among the peasant class, even for the dead._

> The tree shuddered all over, bowed, and quickly stood up straight again, trembling in dismay on its roots... and it crashed down with its top on the damp earth.

Seryoga fells a tree in the forest to make a cross for Fyodor's grave.

_The third 'death'—the tree's—is presented as a natural, almost noble sacrifice to mark a human's passing, completing the cycle._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/leo_tolstoy_short_fiction_se/chapters/three-deaths
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/leo_tolstoy_short_fiction_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/leo_tolstoy_short_fiction_se/chapters