The Death of Ivan Ilych characters

Appears from the start

A forty-five-year-old judge whose death opens the story. His colleagues remember an able, conventional official whose career advanced steadily and whose household appeared respectable. The announcement immediately makes them consider the promotions his vacancy may create.

Appears from the start

Ivan's widow. At the funeral she draws Pyotr Ivanovich aside to ask what further pension or public assistance she can obtain, presenting herself as overwhelmed by Ivan's final sufferings while remaining attentive to practical advantage.

Appears from the start

An old friend and professional colleague of Ivan's who attends the funeral. Uneasy in the presence of the body and the bereaved family, he is acutely conscious of social expectations and welcomes Schwartz's silent suggestion that their card game should still take place.

Appears from the start

A confident colleague in Ivan's social circle. His lively manner at the funeral implies that death need not interrupt the habits and amusements of the surviving officials.

Appears from the start

A young peasant servant in Ivan's household. At the funeral he speaks of death plainly as the fate awaiting everyone, without the evasiveness or discomfort shown by Ivan's social equals.

Also known as Lisa

Appears from the start

Ivan and Praskovya's adult daughter. She appears at the funeral in mourning clothes with her fiancé and is absorbed in the strain the illness and disrupted household have placed on her own life.

Also known as Fyodor Petrovich

Appears from the start

Lisa's prosperous fiancé, an examining magistrate and the son of a judge. He accompanies her at Ivan's funeral and belongs comfortably to the same ambitious official world as Ivan's colleagues.

Also known as Vasya

Appears from the start

Ivan's school-age son. Thin and visibly distressed at the funeral, he resembles his father as a boy and responds to the death more openly than the adults around him.

First appears in chapter 4

The prominent physician consulted about Ivan's persistent pain. He performs an elaborate examination and discusses competing diagnoses with professional gravity, but gives Ivan no plain answer about whether his condition is dangerous.