Summary of Chekhov "Tosca": sadness, sadness and heart sound

In January 1986 in the Petersburg newspaperfirst published the story of A. P. Chekhov "Tosca". By this time, the author was already known as a master of short humorous stories. However, the new work was fundamentally different from those ironic scenes with which the name of the writer was associated. Before starting Chekhov's summary “Tosca”, I would like to draw attention to two plot plans that are inseparably connected with each other.

The first is a call for sympathy, empathy andcompassion for the spiritual torment of an individual person, and the second is a question that sooner or later rises in the soul of every person: longing for a soul mate, for warmth, for love, which, on the one hand, leads to stupor and emptiness, and on the other - pushes for the search for truth.

Summary of the story of Chekhov "Tosca"

The work begins with a description of the snowstreets in the light of street lamps. Among the white silence, the coachman Jonah Potapov is sitting on the box. Silence. The snow is spinning slowly, covering everything around with a thick layer. But the main character does not notice anything. He sits, immovable and white. There is no movement and a horse. He left before lunch, but since that time no one has sat down with him. However, this does not bother him much. Twilight descends imperceptibly, and silent colors acquire other shades. Noise, loud cries. Jonah shudders. Suddenly, a military man sits in his sleigh and asks to go to Vyborg. He takes Jonah out of his spiritual stupor. However, either by surprise, or by a long wait without movement, the coachman cannot level the movement of the cart, and several times he miraculously avoids collision with passersby. But he does not care, does not scare, and does not disturb ... The only desire is to talk to the rider. He starts a conversation directly, decisively and somewhere even unexpectedly frankly tells about the death of his son, who died a week ago of fever. But the military man, expressing dry sympathy, did not support the conversation, and Jonah was forced to shut up. He drove it and landed. And again, bent over, he froze and plunged into his solitude: “An hour passes, another ...”

On this summary of Chekhov "Tosca" is notit ends, because after some time three pretty young drunks approach Ion. They argue long and loudly, assign a small fee to the driver, and finally sit in the sleigh. Their behavior is defiant. But Jonah is indifferent. He has one desire - to talk to people about his grief, about how his son fell ill, how he suffered and what he said before he died, about what happens in his village, about his daughter. A merry company is noisy discussing their affairs, not noticing him, but he seems to be trying to break into their conversation and talk about his dead son. But they do not care about him, and they rudely answer him that everyone will sooner or later be in the next world. And again the end of the way, and again the passengers hurriedly leave it: “Jonah stares after them for a long time.” What to do? He earned little money, and he decides to return home, where he can listen to him. He lives with other cab drivers. But for his arrival, everyone has already laid down. And again he remains alone. Can no one listen to him? The son died a week ago, and since then he has not been able to share his feelings, his sadness, his longing with anyone. He does not need sympathy or understanding. He longs to be heard. He needs to speak out. He wants someone to witness his life on these ill-fated days, albeit the only, albeit silent, but real. He goes to the stable to feed his horse, and tells her all that lay down a "layer of snow" on his soul.

This short story is a short summary of Chekhov's “Tosca”. However, I do not want to stop only on dryretelling the work, who went where and what he said. It's not about the words or actions of the main characters. They are only a reflection of what is happening with the person inside, his spiritual experiences, desires and hopes. Silently falling snow, the frozen bent figure of Jonah, who is “white as a ghost”, endless waiting and complete silence around — everything speaks of that ineffable longing that came after the death of his son, spread all over his body, slowly, confidently, without stones and obstacles, and became the full mistress of body and soul. If the breast of Jonah had burst, as the author writes, then melancholy seems to have flooded the world. She captured it completely, wrapped and froze like this white snow. It is difficult for him to resist her, he submits, he does not understand this, and at the same time hope, the desire for warmth, the search for truth, why it happened, why “death died by the door” and didn’t come to him, but to his son, make him look for communication. He starts a difficult conversation for him, tolerates the indifference and indifference of people to his grief, continues to wait for a hectic evening with bright colors, even though he is now so far from this celebration of life. He needs to get rid of this endless melancholy, painful anxiety, inconsolable loneliness and to find among the thousands of people scurrying through the streets at least one with whom he could talk "with sense, with disposition." But no one wants to help him with this. Everyone remains indifferent and stingy with feelings. He is not offended. He continues on his way, otherwise “anguish is immense, knowing no boundaries” will win, but this should not happen.

Chekhov, “Tosca”, a summary: conclusion

“To whom shall I put my sorrow? ..."- the story begins with this line. Probably, the summary of Chekhov “Tosca” should also begin with this epigraph. However, the first words, the first thought is what we are invited to comprehend and feel during the whole action, and the final maxim, the final image, is a confirmation, proof of what was said at the very beginning.

"To whom shall I set my sorrow? ..." - the bitter weeping of Joseph the Beautiful, calling в любой скорби или унынии обращаться за помощью к Lord, who only knows about all our troubles. Every person, every animal, plant is part of the Creator, but the human soul, absorbed in incessant bustle, is not always ready to open up and share its warmth with others, not always ready for unconditional love and deep compassion for the pain of another. Therefore, the search for Jonah is in vain. He does not find a listener among people, but finds him in a silent horse, in his “horse”, which initially caught the slightest vibrations in the owner's soul. She spent hours standing motionless in the wet snow, "lost in thought," when Jonah surrendered to the power of sadness and loneliness, and ran about in a trot, sensing that the owner's longing became unbearable and burst forth quickly. And now the silent, silent animal “chews, listens and breathes into the hands of its owner ...”, and between them there is a real communication, a silent exchange of spiritual warmth and understanding. “To whom will my sorrow be? ...” Truly seek help, she will truly come to you, and here it does not matter how, when, and in what manner.