Three Deaths by Leo Tolstoy
"Three Deaths" by Leo Tolstoy is a poignant narrative that explores mortality and the human condition through the intertwined stories of two characters from different social classes facing death. The tale unfolds in four sections, focusing on Marya Dmitriyevna, an upper-class woman suffering from consumption, and Uncle Fyodor, a dying peasant. As Marya travels towards Italy in search of a cure, the contrast between her privileged life and Fyodor's humble existence becomes apparent. The story begins with a brief encounter between their two worlds at a post station, where both characters are confronted with the harsh realities of illness and impending death.
As the narrative progresses, readers witness Marya's tragic decline as she is ultimately unable to escape her fate, dying in a Moscow house surrounded by family and a priest. In parallel, Uncle Fyodor dies in the carriage drivers’ quarters, illustrating the stark differences in their final moments. The third 'death' in the title symbolizes the cutting down of a tree by Seryoga, a driver, to create a grave marker for Fyodor, emphasizing themes of loss and the cycle of life. Through these vignettes, Tolstoy delves into the emotional and existential aspects of death, reflecting on how it touches all levels of society, regardless of social standing.
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Three Deaths by Leo Tolstoy
First published: "Tri smerti," 1859 (English translation, 1902)
Type of plot: Symbolist
Time of work: The nineteenth century
Locale: Russia
Principal Characters:
Marya Dmitriyevna , an upper-class woman in her mid-twenties who is dying from consumptionVasily Dmitrich , Marya's solicitous and sentimental husbandEdward Ivanovich , Marya's doctorMatryosha , Marya's maidUncle Fyodor , a poor old carriage driver, who is dying from consumptionSeryoga , a young peasant carriage driverNastasya , a peasant cook at a post station on the route to Moscow
The Story
In the story's four numbered sections are described the actions of two sets of characters, one from the upper class and one from the lower. Each set revolves around a character dying from consumption: Marya Dmitriyevna, attempting to flee the harsh Russian winter to reach the warm Italian climate in the hope of curing her illness, and Uncle Fyodor, lying in the last stages of his illness in the carriage drivers' quarters at a post station. The two sets of characters intersect in sections 1 and 2 of the story, when the two carriages of the small upper-class entourage make a brief rest stop at the post station, where most of the lower-class characters work.
At the station, all the passengers except Marya disembark to eat; Vasily and Edward also have wine and further discuss what should be done about Marya, who in the doctor's opinion will certainly not live to reach Italy. At the opening of section 2, the young driver of Marya's carriage, Seryoga, enters the drivers' quarters to ask for the dying Uncle Fyodor's new boots as replacements for his own worn-out ones, which are woefully inadequate in the inclement weather. Fyodor assents, subject to Seryoga's promise to provide a headstone for his grave.
After the carriages' departure, the remainder of section 2 shifts to focus on the comfort Nastasya attempts to provide for Fyodor, who dies that night and appears in Nastasya's dream. Section 3 focuses on the family of Marya gathered, along with a local priest, at a Moscow house, where she is bedridden, too ill to continue her futile flight. At the section's conclusion, she dies, and at her wake an inattentive deacon reads psalms in a lonely vigil. Section 4 shifts back to the peasant group, recounting Nastasya's chastisement of Seryoga for not fulfilling his promise to Fyodor and subsequently Seryoga's dawn venture into the forest to begin to make good his word. The "death" of the tree (described in very human terms by the narrator) that Seryoga chops down to provide a cross on Fyodor's as-yet-unmarked grave is the third death referred to in the story's title.