Doctor Zhivago: Analysis of Major Characters
"Doctor Zhivago: Analysis of Major Characters" explores the intricate relationships and character dynamics within Boris Pasternak's novel set against the tumultuous backdrop of early 20th-century Russia. The central character, Yuri Andreievich Zhivago, is depicted as a sensitive and idealistic man whose life is shaped by loss and the influences of those around him, particularly his uncle and the Gromeko family. He becomes a poet and doctor, navigating personal and political chaos while relying on the strength of the women in his life, notably his wife, Antonina, who embodies loyalty and resilience.
The character of Lara, a passionate and beautiful woman, serves as Zhivago's great love, illustrating themes of love and separation throughout the narrative as their lives intertwine amid war and revolution. Other key figures include Victor Komarovsky, whose complex relationship with Lara adds tension to the story, and Pavel Antipov, Lara's husband, whose idealism and subsequent radicalization highlight the period's political upheaval. Through these characters, the novel captures the profound impact of historical forces on individual lives, offering insights into the human condition during a time of change. The examination of these characters enriches the understanding of Pasternak’s exploration of love, loyalty, and the struggle for meaning amidst chaos.
Doctor Zhivago: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Boris Pasternak
First published: Doktor Zhivago, 1957 (English translation, 1958)
Genre: Novel
Locale: Moscow, the Eastern Front, and Siberia
Plot: Social realism
Time: 1900–1930
Yuri Andreievich Zhivago (YEW-ree ahn-DREH-yehvihch zhih-VAH-goh), the protagonist. When Zhivago's mother dies at the beginning of the novel, he becomes practically an orphan because his father, a wealthy man ruined by alcohol, already has abandoned his family. Yuri Zhivago is then reared by a maternal uncle, Nikolai Vedeniapin, a liberal journalist and intellectual who is the first character to express something like Christian idealism. Later, in his school years, Yuri lives in the home of Alexander Gromeko, a chemistry professor with a wealthy, good-hearted, physically frail wife and daughter. These associations are important in the formation of Yuri Zhivago's character and interests. The influence of his uncle impels him toward poetry, and the influence of Gromeko toward medicine. Zhivago is dark and not particularly handsome. He possesses intelligence that shows in his features. He is passive and idealistic, sustained through the chaos of Russia in the 1920's by the women, stronger than himself, who love him. He is more convincing as a poet and idealist than as a doctor.
Antonina (Tonia) Alexandrovna Gromeko (ahn-TOH-nihnah ah-lehk-SAHN-drov-nah groh-MEH-koh), the daughter of Alexander and Anno Gromeko. Yuri Zhivago meets her when he is a schoolboy living in the Gromeko home. Relations change as Yuri and Tonia mature, and Tonia becomes Zhivago's wife. Tonia has all the good qualities one might expect in the daughter of civilized, educated people. She is a composed, polished young woman who is nevertheless capable of strong emotion, endurance, and resourcefulness. She remains loyal to Zhivago even after the circumstances of revolutionary Russia part them for good.
Larisa (Lara) Feodrovna Guishar (lah-RIH-sah FYOH-dohrov-nah GI-shahr), Yuri Zhivago's great love and the leading female character in the novel. Her parents came to Russia from Western Europe (France and Belgium), but Lara is thoroughly Russianized and might be thought of as the author's ideal Russian woman. She is quite beautiful and susceptible to passion, which compromises her when she is little more than a girl. Like Zhivago, she makes a good and sensible marriage, hers to Pavel Antipov (Pasha), but is then permanently separated from her husband by World War I and the revolution that follows. Zhivago is a doctor during the war, and Lara is a nurse who works with him. They are later reunited in Yuriatin, east of the Ural mountains, where Zhivago has fled with his family during the revolution. When both Lara and Zhivago find themselves alone through forced separations, they turn to each other and form the liaison that becomes the novel's principal love story. After they are finally separated, again by circumstances, Lara bears Yuri's child.
Victor Ippolitovich Komarovsky (ee-poh-LIH-toh-vihch koh-mah-ROV-skee), a complicated man who seduces Lara while she is a teenager and he is the lover of Lara's mother. Late in the novel, it is hinted that he encourages a separation between Lara and Tanya, her daughter by Zhivago. He is a capable man, not devoid of feeling for Lara and concerned, in his way, with saving her from harm. A lawyer in czarist Russia, he is able to manage various difficulties after the revolution.
Pavel (Pasha) Pavlovich Antipov (PAH-vyehl PAH-vlohvihch ahn-TIH-pov), the husband of Lara, whom he admires intensely in his student days. He becomes a teacher. He is extremely bright and is idealistic about revolution and the establishment of a new order. He enters World War I and becomes involved with the Bolsheviks after the revolution begins. In his revolutionary activities, he is single-minded and ruthless; he is known as Strelnikov (the shooter). Antipov is strong, but he commits suicide.
Marina Shchapov (mah-REE-nah SHCHAH-pov), the daughter of the former porter at the Gromekos' house. After Zhivago is separated from Lara and drifts back to Moscow, he enters a common-law marriage with Marina. She is devoted to him and sustains him as he fails both in health and in purpose. She is badly shaken by Zhivago's death.
Evgraf Andreievich Zhivago (YEHV-graf), Yuri Zhivago's half brother. He is a principled man who accommodates himself to the realities of Bolshevik power, rises to military eminence, and smoothes the way for Yuri more than once.