Summary Of The Forged Coupon, By Leo Tolstoy

Actions and motives are wide reaching in terms of who they effect and the extent of their effectiveness. One may suppose that a small lie has little impact on those around him or her. Leo Tolstoy, as evidenced in his story, The Forged Coupon, argues against this assumption in regards to the role individual actions play in the creation of communal history. Throughout the fictional text, Tolstoy utilizes powerful visual diction to portray plausible public implications for small private acts. Tolstoy moves from a simple writing of history that turns past events into human documentation by expounding on social and cultural factors that influence causation and its role in future history. In order to achieve this goal, Tolstoy makes clear his debatable

beliefs in two primary areas: the hypocrisy of the clergy and the government and the unjust inequality between the ruling class and the peasants.
The elect religious, spiritual, and political leaders of the time were hypocritical.

Instead of mirroring their lives based on the life of Christ, the clergy mirrored their lives based on the lives of the Pharisees and focused on works and made it difficult for the non-clergy to encounter Christ. Men were prosecuted for attempting to pursue Christ more fully when it opposed the outward-exemplifying works-oriented gospel that the clergy of the day was promoting. Religious piety was used as a form of political power to keep the citizens content in following the laws of the government. Unfortunately, the clergy themselves failed to denounce this adulterated piety. They were content to accept this lackluster religion as truth and denounce any citizens who opposed them. The idea of hypocrisy in the clergy can clearly be seen in the interaction between Father Michael Vedensky and Mitia Smokovnikov’s father, Fedor Mihailovich and the ensuing explanation given by

Tolstoy.
‘It is my duty as a priest to look after the religious and moral education of our pupils. Oh, cease your pretence to be religious! Oh, stop all this humbug of religion! As if I did not know that you believe neither in God nor Devil. I consider it beneath my dignity to talk to a man like you,’ said Father Michael, very much hurt by Smokovnikov's last words, the more so because he knew they were true. Michael Vedensky carried on his studies in the academy for priests, and that is why, for a long time past, he ceased to believe in what he confessed to be his creed and in what he preached from the pulpit; he only knew that men ought to force themselves to believe in what he tried to make himself believe (Tolstoy Part First, sec. XII).
Apparently, the moral integrity of the clergy is not established in Christ and the gospel, but on religious intellect and human work. This insincere outward act of religious fervor and opposition to the truth was seen when Isidor was thrown in prison for preaching the truth to the Emperor. It required rebuke from Isidor and repentance on the part of Father Missael in order for this man to be pardoned from his authentic religious zeal that opposed the governing authorities. While it is important to note that some individuals of the clergy, such as Father Missael, did eventually repent of their hypocrisy, Tolstoy limits these instances and instead utilizes many more examples of the clergy and government acting in hypocrisy. Because of this, it is rational to assume that Tolstoy views the majority of the governing political and religious bodies as hypocritical, yet extremely influential in spreading this hypocrisy within the country (Tolstoy Part Second, sec XVII).
Throughout the story, there is also a great emphasis placed on the interaction between the poor and the wealthy.

Tolstoy condemns this corrupt relationship by showing the immorality of how the wealthy take advantage of the peasants and how—in reciprocation—the peasants steal from the wealthy. This can be seen early in the story when Eugene Mihailovich exploits Vassily—with persuasion in the form of a bribe—to promote his distorted lie. Tolstoy then ties his beliefs with that of Vassily in explaining Vassily’s new worldview in this brief excerpt.

Previous to the incident of the forged coupon, Vassily could not actually believe that rich people lived without any moral law. But after that, still more after having perjured himself, and not being the worse for it in spite of his fears—on the contrary, he had gained ten roubles out of it Vassily became firmly convinced that no moral laws whatever exist, and that the only thing to do is to pursue one's own interests and pleasures. This he now made his rule in life (Tolstoy Part First, sec VIII).

Later in the story, Tolstoy shows how this small act of perjury corrupts Vassily and changes him. This interaction producing more corruption is the manner in which Tolstoy believes his culture and society

function.
With the two summaries demonstrating hypocrisy and inequality, Tolstoy’s image of his own culture becomes a little clearer. Due to his usage of these two social and cultural factors, we can see how Tolstoy believes they are influencing history. The apparently miniscule actions that humans do on a daily basis influence the social and cultural aspects of life. Typically, it is not one or two major actions that change a culture and society. In actuality, it is a combination of many trivial actions that, as time continues, shapes and forms the culture of the community. As time progresses, these aspects begin to shape the community. As the community changes and advances, history is shaped and formed based on the ideals of that culture and society. This is why the ideals, morals and actions of individuals within a community can greatly affect the culture and society of that community. Tolstoy subliminally illustrates to the reader that individual actions carry great merit in the nature of history and its all-encompassing arc as time progresses.