«Weak Heart» is a story by the 19th-century Russian writer Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, published in 1848 in the second issue of A. A. Kraevsky’s journal Otechestvennye Zapiski. It was released as a separate edition in 1865.
Concept and history of creation
According to researchers of Dostoevsky’s work, the story «Weak Heart» was supposed to become part of an unrealized cycle of stories and short stories united, by analogy with Balzac’s «Human Comedy», by common characters. As in «Poor Folk», «The Landlady» and «Netochka Nezvanova», the image of a dreamer plays a significant role in the work.
The very title of the work refers the reader to the story «The Landlady», where for the first time its heroine — Katerina — was called «weak heart», which implied «deep, hopeless tyranny over a poor, defenseless creature». Yulian Mastakovich, the boss and patron of the main character Vasily Shumkov, later appears in the story «The Christmas Tree and the Wedding», where a connection with the «Petersburg Chronicle» can also be traced, in which, in contrast to the «weak heart», his «kind heart» is ironically mentioned. In the feuilleton, this elderly character appears as the embodiment of baseness in the guise of respectability, planning to marry a young, pure girl and maintain his relationship with the previous one. In «A Weak Heart,» Yulian Mastakovich’s marriage becomes a fact, and his «kind heart» is the basis of the story. In addition, in the «Petersburg Chronicle,» a certain official is sketched out at Yulian Mastakovich’s disposal, assigned to a «really urgent matter.» In «A Weak Heart,» this work is entrusted specifically to Vasya Shumkov.
From the memoirs and correspondence of Dostoevsky’s contemporaries, mainly represented by materials from Alexander Milyukov, who was on friendly terms with Fyodor Mikhailovich at that time, and the writer’s doctor Stepan Yanovsky, it follows that the idea for the story arose on the basis of episodes from the biography of the writer Yakov Butkov. Dostoevsky and Butkov were peers, and Fyodor Mikhailovich treated Yakov Petrovich with sympathy and care. In addition, by 1848, Dostoevsky became interested in the ideas of utopian socialism, which is reflected in the desire of the main character of the work to see everyone happy. The writer was well aware of all the contradictions of life in a big city. According to researchers, the final lines of the story with St. Petersburg disappearing into the fog appeared as a result of these feelings and symbolize the coming terrible changes. Of the handwritten texts from the initial period of his work, only sketches for the story «The Double» have survived. The materials for «Weak Heart» could have either been destroyed by Dostoevsky himself before his arrest, or seized after his arrest and destroyed after the end of the investigation. On December 31, 1847, permission was received from the censorship committee. The story was first published in 1848 in the second issue of the journal «Otechestvennye zapiski». For the 1865 republication, Dostoevsky slightly revised the work, correcting stylistic inaccuracies and eliminating unnecessary repetitions. In general, the text of the story has remained unchanged.
Main characters
The main character of the story is a poor official, a copyist Vasya Shumkov, continuing the theme of the «dreamer» and «little man» in Dostoevsky’s work. Shumkov considers himself unworthy of being happy due to his social inferiority. The character’s psyche cannot withstand both the happiness expressed by the consent of his beloved girl to become his wife and the feeling of guilt before his superiors for the unfulfilled work, which seems to him ingratitude in response to the favor of his patron-boss.
From the overwhelming emotions, the feeling of injustice of fate, which gave such happiness to the unworthy, Shumkov goes crazy. Critic Orest Miller characterized characters like Shumkov as people who lack “free control over their personality.” As a result, such people are afraid even when there is absolutely nothing to be afraid of. Regarding Vasily Shumkov, the critic believed that “an excess of moral suspiciousness, and not the oppression of the boss, drives him to madness.”
The prototype of Shumkov was the writer Yakov Butkov. When creating the image of Shumkov, Dostoevsky used some of the realities of the life of his prototype. Just like Butkov, Shumkov follows the obligation he took upon himself to congratulate his boss Yulian Mastakovich on holidays — so as not to be known as disrespectful. When Butkov was just beginning his literary career, a recruitment drive was announced, and it turned out that he had to become a soldier. The editor-publisher of the magazine «Otechestvennye Zapiski» Andrei Kraevsky bought him a recruitment receipt, which freed him from this need. However, now Butkov had to write articles for «Otechestvennye Zapiski» and pay part of the money from each fee. Like Kraevsky, Yulian Mastakovich freed Shumkov from conscription. In addition, researchers of Dostoevsky’s work see the sound similarity of the surnames Shumkov and Butkov as no coincidence. Yulian Mastakovich, Shumkov’s boss and patron, is depicted in the story in satirical tones. His biography can be traced in other works by Dostoevsky, in which he appears as an elderly character, embodying baseness in the guise of respectability. He married a young, pure girl, while maintaining his relationship with his previous girlfriend. The writer ironically notes his «kind heart», which became the basis of the story. Yulian Mastakovich’s prototype was largely A. A. Kraevsky, satirical allusions to whom are noted by researchers. In addition to Butkov, the editor of Otechestvennye Zapiski treated other employees in a similar way, including Dostoevsky himself. In a letter to Kraevsky dated February 1, 1849, Fyodor Mikhailovich conveys Shumkov’s inner state: «I know, Andrei Alexandrovich, that by the way, when I sent you notes asking for money several times, I called each fulfillment of my request a favor. But I was in fits of excessive self-deprecation and humility from false delicacy. For example, I understand Butkov, who is ready, receiving 10 rubles in silver, to consider himself the happiest man in the world. This is a momentary, painful condition, and I survived it.»
Plot
On New Year’s Eve, two young men, Arkady Ivanovich Nefedovich and Vasily Petrovich Shumkov, discuss the latter’s upcoming marriage. The second hero is simply called Vasya Shumkov, thereby emphasizing his position as a poor St. Petersburg official, who also has a physical defect — a crooked side. His bride is Liza Artemyeva. Nefedovich questions Vasya’s financial solvency — three hundred rubles of annual salary. However, Vasya Shumkov reminds his friend about the official support of his patron Yulian Mastakovich, who gives Vasily the opportunity to earn an additional three to four hundred rubles a year in the form of rewriting especially important documents, since Vasily is distinguished at work by his excellent, calligraphic handwriting. Despite the fact that Vasily urgently needs to do the rewriting, Arkady still decides to go with his friend to the Artemyevs and meet Liza and her family, which the friends do. Returning from the Artemyevs extremely excited, Vasya again tries to return to rewriting papers, since he promised Yulian Mastakovich to finish the work in two days, and there is still a lot to rewrite. How much exactly, he does not tell Nefedovich, and due to excitement he does not immediately get down to work, but gradually Nefedovich also begins to worry about his friend, since he sees his unbalanced state, close to a breakdown. Vasya rewrites day and night, managing to take a nap for a few hours. The next day, instead of rewriting, Shumkov goes to the Artemyevs again, and also does not forget to personally leave a congratulation in the visitors’ book of his boss, Yulian Mastakovich, and Nefedovich completely loses sight of his restless friend. When Shumkov finally comes home to continue the hateful correspondence, Arkady Nefedovich learns that there are still six thick notebooks to rewrite, and Vasily has been beside himself with happiness for the last two weeks and has almost not rewritten anything.
Understanding that he would not be able to rewrite everything by the deadline, Vasya felt guilty before himself, before his boss, before Liza. Arkady consoled his friend by saying that he would settle the matter with Mastakovich, but the exhausted Shumkov was already completely depressed by what had happened, he told his friend that he would speed up the pen. Thus passes another sleepless night. Vasya faints. The morning after the New Year, Arkady goes to work alone, leaving Shumkov to rest, but he visits the department in search of Yulian Mastakovich. At home, Shumkov suffers an attack of tetanus, after which he again returns to the correspondence.
The completely exhausted friends fall asleep, and upon waking up, Arkady sees how the distraught Vasya Shumkov runs a dry pen over clean paper — he still managed to speed up his too slow pen. Vasily, left unattended while Arkady was away looking for doctors, went to the department to explain the matter to his benefactor Yulian Mastakovich. Seeing his distraught subordinate and learning the cause of the disaster, Yulian Mastakovich exclaimed sadly: “My God, what a pity! And the matter entrusted to him was unimportant and not at all urgent. So, for no reason, a man died! Well, let’s take him away!…”
Reviews and reviews
Already in the March issue of the magazine “Pantheon”, after Mikhail Dostoevsky’s literary review “Literary Signals”, the editor of the magazine Fyodor Koni made the following remark: “The venerable critic of “Pantheon” did not mention, out of modesty, the works of Dostoevsky; we considered it necessary to supplement his article from ourselves <…> This is not about the plot, here is an inexorable, merciless analysis of the human heart <…>. Weak and tender hearts <…> submit
