Overview Of The Death Of Ivan Ilych

Ivan Ilych is the main character in The Death of Ivan Ilych, written by Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy in 1886. In the beginning of the novella, the reader is an observer at the funeral of the title character. A number of people have gathered to mark his passing: judges, family members and acquaintances, but, during and after the ceremony, the mourners begin to consider how Ilych’s death might be to their advantage in terms of money or position. In a line from William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, one of the characters observes Macbeth’s life as, “Nothing in his life/Became him like the leaving it.” (Act 1; Scene 4; lines 8-9).

The reader is introduced to Ivan in the prime of his life. He is the middle child of his own family and lives an average life. He studies law and later on becomes a judge. During this time, he expels all sensitivity from his life. He completes his work objectively and in cold isolation. He becomes a strict enforcer and father, common traits among the head of the household in Russian culture. As seen through the story, Ivan Ilych’s life it is mediocre. He did not have much influence over his peers or even his own family. Nothing that he experienced in his life was meaningful; Ivan was only joyful at the time of his death, where he knew his time on Earth was coming to an end. However, on his deathbed he experiences a form of spiritual awakening and looks back on his life. Ivan Ilych throughout the story questions the purpose of not just his own death, but of death in every human’s life. On his deathbed, he realizes his purpose during his final moments.

Ivan ponders the purpose of his death and the purpose of death itself. At the beginning of Chapter Six, Ivan is fully aware his life is ebbing away, but cannot fully gr...

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...la, Ivan expresses deep solace for his wife and son, whom he neglected for many years. Ivan rids his mind of the ideals set by “high society” that he had believed to be true. As Ivan bridges the gap, his isolation disappears, the meaning of life is revealed, and true joy fills him.

The story of The Death of Ivan Ilych began at the scene of the main characters funeral, and then tells the tale of his life. Throughout, Ivan lived an average life, with no real importance to his name. The aura of wealthy society plagued his mind with ideas of how to live. Ivan carried out these ideas until he lay upon his deathbed. Tolstoy suggests through Ivan’s epiphany that his character infers altered understanding of life and death. There was nothing of vital importance in Ivan’s life until his death where he realizes the importance of family, and regrets the way he treated them.