The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Confession characters

Appears from the start

A respected judge whose death at forty-five is announced at the beginning of the story. His colleagues remember him as capable and agreeable while immediately considering the professional changes his vacancy may create.

Appears from the start

A judicial colleague and long-standing acquaintance of Ivan Ilyich. He attends the funeral out of obligation, feels uncomfortable near the body, and is relieved when duty no longer prevents him from joining his usual card game.

Appears from the start

Ivan Ilyich's widow. During the funeral she draws Pyotr Ivanovich into a private conversation about her husband's suffering and the money she may obtain from the government, combining genuine distress with practical self-interest.

Appears from the start

Ivan Ilyich's adult daughter, seen during the mourning period with her fiancé. Her youth, health, and concern with her approaching marriage sharply contrast with the death occupying the household.

Appears from the start

Lisa's fiancé, an examining magistrate from a prosperous family. He attends the house during the funeral and shares the family's uneasy wish to return from death and illness to ordinary social life.

Appears from the start

A young household servant from a peasant family. At the funeral he speaks plainly of death as the eventual fate of everyone, without the evasion that governs the behavior of Ivan Ilyich's family and colleagues.

Appears from the start

A lively member of Ivan Ilyich's professional circle who is more interested in arranging the evening's card game than in mourning. His ease and sociability offer Pyotr Ivanovich an immediate route back to routine.

Also known as Vasya

Appears from the start

Ivan Ilyich's school-age son, still living at home. He appears during the mourning period frightened and subdued, with a resemblance to his father as a boy.

First appears in chapter 13

The autobiographical speaker of “Confession,” a celebrated writer approaching fifty who finds that success, family life, and intellectual achievement no longer answer why he should continue living. He examines his loss of inherited religion and begins a disciplined search for meaning.