In January 1925, Mikhail Afanasevich Bulgakov set to work on a new work. In March, the writer completed work on the manuscript. It was a story called The Monstrous Story. During the life of the author, it was never published, despite the fact that people who understand literature, praised the story. Due to the fact that the work is filled with subtle allusions and shows the Country of Soviets in an extremely unsightly form, authorities and writers terminated the agreement on its publication and staging on the stage, and the manuscript of Mikhail Afanasevich and his diaries were withdrawn. Only recently, this work was finally published under the title “Dog’s Heart” and became available to a wide circle of fans of the writer's work. Of course, it is worth reading the whole story, but what if you do not have time or want to plunge into the wonderful world once again? Read Bulgakov’s “Heart of a Dog” at Briefly or on our website!
About the work
At the time when Mikhail Afanasevich was working on his work, various ideas for improving a person through scientific achievements and discoveries were very popular in the country. The protagonist, Professor Preobrazhensky, is trying to unravel the secret of eternal youth and quite by accident makes a tremendous imagination discovery that allows you to turn an animal into a person! It seems that the transplantation of the human pituitary to the dog was successful, but the result shocked both the professor and other heroes of the book. We offer you an introduction to the most important details of the story - read the summary of Bulgakov’s “Heart of a Dog” by chapters. At Briefley, the text is not divided into parts, which is not very convenient.
main characters
The first thing you should pay attention to when meeting with the characters of the book of Russian prose writer is that all heroes have prototypes! Their characters are copied from Bulgakov’s acquaintances, famous political and public figures of that time. Critics say that this story is a political satire on the leadership of the state of the mid-20s of the last century, and on the whole idea of the “Russian revolution”.
The ball is a stray dog. Partly a philosopher, completely stupid in everyday matters, he is distinguished from other animals by observation and reading ability.
Polygraph Poligrafovich Sharikov - the same Sharik, however, after the operation, when the pituitary gland of a rowdy and a drunkard who died in a tavern fight, Klim Chugunkin, was implanted into his brain.
Professor Filipp Filippovich Preobrazhensky is the world luminary of medicine, a genius, an intellectual who hates the proletariat for its lack of education and ambition, which are not substantiated by anything. Unhappy with the advent of a new era.
Ivan Arnoldovich Bormental - a young doctor, a student of Professor Preobrazhensky. Shares all the beliefs of the teacher and worships him.
Schwonder is another hero that we will talk about when retelling the summary of Dog’s Heart by Bulgakov for the reader’s diary. Chairman of the house committee, distributor of communist ideas. In their spirit, trying to educate Sharikov.
Minor Characters
Zina is the maid of the professor. Very young and no less impressionable girl. Combines her domestic duties with the work of a nurse.
Daria Petrovna - cook of professor Preobrazhensky. Strong middle-aged woman.
The young lady-typist is another secondary heroine of Bulgakov’s work “A Dog’s Heart”, a brief summary of the chapters of which will begin a little lower. This is a subordinate and failed wife of Polygraph Poligrafovich.
Chapter one
A stray dog freezes in a Moscow gateway. Poured with boiling water, he suffers from pain in his side, but at the same time very ironically and even philosophically describes his whole life full of misfortunes, Moscow life and types of people, the most heinous of which are doormen and janitors.
Suddenly, a representative gentleman in a fur coat appears in the field of vision of the dog, feeds it with sausage and calls it the Ball. The dog follows the master, trying to understand who his benefactor is, even if the doorman speaks with respect. By the way, from a conversation with the doorman, the mister finds out that dwellers moved into one of the apartments. The man perceives this news with real horror, although his personal living space will remain unaffected by the seal.
Chapter two
The summary of the head of “Dog’s Heart” by Bulgakov should begin with the fact that Sharik, having got into a rich and warm apartment, got scared and decided to scandal. They euthanize him with chloroform, examine the wound on his side, and treat him. The awakened dog discovers that his side no longer bothers him, and therefore nothing prevents him from observing the patient reception, which is being conducted by his benefactor Professor Preobrazhensky. Among the clients are the womanizer and the aged, and an elderly lady in love with a young charming sharpie. They all dream of only one thing - rejuvenation. And the professor (of course, for a tidy sum) is ready to help them.
A very brief summary of Bulgakov’s “Heart of a Dog” (more precisely, the second half of the second chapter of the story) is that on the evening of the same day Preobrazhensky is visited by members of the house committee headed by Schwonder. They insist that the professor give two of the seven rooms that he has - in order of compaction. This state of affairs leads the professor into a rage; with a complaint of arbitrariness, he calls one of the influential patients and suggests that he be operated on by Schwonder. Of course, the seal does not occur, and therefore the members of the house committee, leaving, accuse Philip Preobrazhensky of hatred of the working class.
Chapter three
It is simply impossible to read the summary of Dog’s Heart by Bulgakov (especially this chapter) without studying the quotes from the book. The third chapter of the story is devoted to the culture of food, the proletariat. The professor at lunch recommends not reading newspapers published in the Soviet Union in order to avoid serious digestive problems. Filipp Filippovich sincerely resents the fact that representatives of the new government can simultaneously advocate for the rights of workers of the whole world and steal galoshes.
Behind the wall, a congregation of housing activists begins to sing revolutionary songs. Hearing this, the doctor comes to a logical conclusion:
If, instead of operating every evening, I begin to sing in my apartment in unison, I will be in ruin. If I enter the restroom, I’ll start, sorry for the expression, urinate past the toilet and Zina and Daria Petrovna will do the same, the restroom will begin to collapse. Consequently, the devastation is not in the closets, but in the heads. So, when these baritones shout “beat the devastation!” - I am laughing. I swear I'm funny! This means that each of them must hit his neck!
During the conversation, it comes to the future of the Ball. The intrigue has not yet been revealed, but pathologists who are well acquainted with Bormental, promise to immediately inform him of the presence of a suitable corpse. The dog continues to be monitored.
Considering the third chapter of “Dog’s Heart” by M. Bulgakov in brief, one can’t but say that the Ball is bought a decent collar, it is deliciously fed, the side heals. Sometimes the dog tries to mess out, which Zina, outraged by this behavior, offers to tear him out. The professor is categorical:
No one can be torn, one can act on a person and an animal only by suggestion.
As soon as the dog takes root in the house, a phone rings. The turmoil begins, the professor demands to serve dinner earlier, the ball is deprived of food, locked in the bathroom. And then they bring him to the examination room and give him anesthesia.
Chapter four
The professor and his student operate on the ball: they implant the testis and pituitary gland, which were taken from a fresh human corpse. Doctors are convinced - this will open new horizons that allow you to better know the mechanisms of rejuvenation. With regret in his voice, Preobrazhensky suggests that the Ball, like other animals before him, will not undergo surgery and will die.
Chapter five
There is no point in summarizing Mikhail Bulgakov’s “Dog’s Heart” diary of Dr. Bormental, which is dedicated to the history of Sharik’s illness. One has only to say that the dog survived, strange changes take place with him: he loses his coat, his barking begins to resemble a person’s voice, the bones and skull grow and change shape. The ball begins to pronounce the words, so it turns out that he learned to read on signs.
The young doctor with enthusiasm understands: a pituitary transplant leads not only to rejuvenation, but to humanization. Professor Preobrazhensky, in turn, does not share the enthusiasm: he frowns at the medical history of the person whose pituitary was transplanted to the dog.
Chapter six
Professor Preobrazhensky and Dr. Bormental are trying to educate the creation obtained as a result of the experiment: they instill the necessary skills into it, engage in its education.
The intelligent Filipp Filippovich is confronted with the terrible taste of Sharik in clothes, and the manner of speech and habits of the former dog are disgusting. Throughout the apartment of the genius of medicine, posters are hanging prohibiting throwing cigarette butts, gnawing seeds, spitting and cursing. The ball is aggressive towards the process of education:
They grabbed the animal, shook its head with a knife, and now they are hating.
The former dog communicates with Schwonder, which leads to the skillful handling of various office terms, requires the professor to issue him identification documents. The surname Sharikov is quite happy with him, but the name he chooses is not quite standard - Polygraph Poligrafovich.
The professor, in an interview with the chairman of the house committee, expresses a desire to acquire a room in the house in order to relocate Sharikov there, but the vindictive Shvonder refuses Preobrazhensky. Meanwhile, a real communal catastrophe occurs in the apartment: Sharikov chases the cat and makes a flood in the bathroom.
Chapter seven
To begin this chapter of Bulgakov's “Dog Heart”, a brief summary follows from the fact that at the table Sharikov drinks vodka like alcoholics with experience do it. Looking at this, Filipp Filippovich only shakes his head and sighs: "Klim ...".
In the evening, Sharikov declares that he is going to the circus. In response, Preobrazhensky offers him much more cultural entertainment - a trip to the theater. However, Polygraph Poligrafovich refuses, saying that the theater is a counter-revolution. Then the professor offers the former dog to read a book, for example, "Robinson", but Sharikov is already fascinated by the correspondence of Engels and Kautsky, received, of course, from Schwonder. True, he can understand little, except that this:
Take everything, and divide.
The frustrated professor Filipp Filippovich offers to “share” all the lost profits from the fact that on the day when Sharikov made a flood, the reception of customers was disrupted, he offers the Polygraph to pay 130 rubles for a cat and a crane. The professor tells Zina to burn the book. Having sent the former dog and Bormental to the circus, the professor looks at Sharikov’s pituitary gland for a long time (of course, preserved) and utters a mysterious phrase:
By golly, I seem to make up my mind.
Chapter eight
This chapter (as well as its brief summary) of “Dog’s Heart” by Bulgakov begins with a grandiose scandal: Sharikov claims to live in Preobrazhensky’s apartment. He angrily promises to shoot Shvonder and threatens the Polygraph with food deprivation. Sharikov abated for a while, but it soon became clear that he had stolen two pieces of gold from the doctor’s office and was trying to dump the theft on Zina. In addition, the Polygraph gets drunk and leads his drinking companions into the apartment, after the expulsion of which the beaver hat, malachite ashtray and professor’s favorite cane disappear from the house.
Ivan Arnoldovich acknowledges Preobrazhensky for cognac in respect and says that he is personally ready to feed Sharikov with arsenic. Professor against: a young doctor cannot escape punishment for murder. But a world-renowned scientist, he adds, can escape responsibility. Philip Filippovich also admits his scientific error:
I sat for five years, picking out appendages from the brains ... And now, the question is - why? To one day turn the dearest dog into such scum that the hair stands on end . Two convictions, alcoholism, “share everything”, a hat and two gold coins disappeared, a boor and a pig ... In a word, the pituitary gland is a closed cell that defines a human face. This!
Here it is worth recalling that the pituitary for Sharikov was taken from Klim Chugunkin - a recidivist, rowdy, alcoholic. Klim earned his living by playing the balalaika in taverns. He died in a drunken brawl. Doctors with horror are trying to imagine what could happen from Sharikov with such a heredity, and even under the influence of Shvonder!
At night, Daria Petrovna noisily drives the drunk Polygraph out of the kitchen, Bormental is angry, he promises to cause a scandal to the former dog in the morning, but Sharikov disappears. Having returned after some time, he reports: now he is the head of the department for cleaning the city from stray animals. Together with him, a typist girl appears in the apartment, whom Sharikov presents as his future wife. The girl's eyes are opened to the lie of the Polygraph: he is not a Red Army man, wounded in battles with the whites, as he told the chosen one. In response, Sharikov claims that he will fire the girl, Bormental takes her under protection and promises to shoot Polygraph Poligrafovich.
Chapter nine
Retelling the ninth chapter of “Dog’s Heart” by Bulgakov in brief, it is worth saying that Preobrazhensky learns unpleasant news: Sharikov wrote a denunciation to the professor and his student. The polygraph is offered to get out of the apartment, but he stubbornly and takes out a weapon. Doctors twist Sharikov, put him to sleep with chloroform and take him to the observation room, where some activity begins.
Chapter ten
The story "Dog Heart" by Bulgakov is coming to an end. The summary of the last chapter should begin with the fact that police appear in the professor’s apartment with a search warrant, the results of which lead to the fact that Preobrazhensky is charged with the murder of the Polygraph. But the professor is unwavering: he calmly reports that the laboratory creature has completely inexplicably degraded and has become a dog again. In evidence, Filipp Filippovich shows the law enforcement officers a creation in which one can recognize Sharikov.
The dog, who, as a result of the repeated operation, got his pituitary gland back, remains to live in the professor’s house, although he did not understand why he had his whole head cut off.