Essay Questions

In what way is the story The Black Monk a close representation of the writer himself?

When Chekhov was writing The Black Monk, he was suffering from psychological problems as well as physical ailments. He was no longer in a state as he was before. Existential crisis grappled him and living meant nothing to him. It was just passing of time and the unravelling of the gate of death.

Andrey Kovrin, the leading character of the story, was also suffering from the same existential crisis and he started to see a self-made illusion of a black monk. Psychologically it was a creation of his subconscious mind. Rowing through the sufferings of life, at last he breathed his last with a smile at his face and the name of Tanya in his throat.

The image of gardening closely resembles the hobby of Chekhov which he developed at the later stage of his life. In this way the characters of the story are nothing but different inner components of the writer.

What happens to Andrey Kovrin at last?

Kovrin, the fictional character, is a great Russian scholar. During the last two years before his death, Kovrin's health gradually deteriorates and psychologically he becomes very unstable. He starts to see an illusory monk and becomes enslaved by him. In between this interval he becomes married. The marriage proves to be fruitless. So, Tanya, his wife and Kovrin get separated.

Kovrin gets a job of a professor and starts to live with another woman. When death starts to lay her freezing hands on him, he resorts to the black monk. The monk advises him to accept his death. He dies of hemorrhage during cough. In his deathbed he is seen smiling and welcoming the approaching death to take him away. He utters only the name of Tanya at that moment. Death writes the last sentence of Kovrin's life.