The Image of Markel Shchapov in Boris Pasternak's Novel Doctor Zhivago

The article is devoted to the study of the image of Markel Shchapov, the most significant secondary character of Boris Pasternak's novel Doctor Zhivago. This image is considered in the system of yard-keeper characters as well as in comparison with Yuri Zhivago. The juxtaposition of the characters deepens the negative features of the personality of Markel, who prescribes himself undeserved significance, claiming a higher position in society. Strong by nature, he heorizes, but not at the front; his craftiness and talebearing promote him to people who were in authority during the revolution. Markel takes an active part in the development of the plot, he appears in all the key events of the Moscow period of the doctor's life. The belligerence, ignorance, and hypocrisy of Markel stand against the kindness and honesty of Zhivago, who returned from the war. The yard-keeper is far from being stupid, he understands and knows how to assess the situation and is, therefore, rude and straightforward with the people who cannot resist his rudeness, though he tries to ingratiate himself with those who he himself is afraid of. The essence of the yard-keeper's character and the attitude of the intellectuals to the new social phenomenon, embodied in his image, are expressed by the prudent Tonya, whose adherence to principles provoked Shchapov to denunciation, which reveals him as a class enemy, a person who is consciously seeking promotion. Once he condemned the riots in the country during the revolution, but, during the NEP, Markel himself headed the municipal economy of Flour Town, the life of which, however, he did not adjust to. Events in the yard-keeper's lodge are the most important of the episodes, exposing the tragedy of people brought up according to the way of life of the previous century and faced with the representative of the new government. It is the culmination and the denouement in the relationship of Shchapov and Zhivago at the same time. In the description of the furniture of the yard-keeper's lodge, a special place is given to the dining table, the history of which keeps the past of the yard-keeper, who became omnipotent particularly in the hungry years. The behaviour of the diners expresses their attitude to the head of the family and Yuri Zhivago and reveals the degree of Markel's influence on them. Markel rooted servility in his children and sons-in-law. The portrait of Shchapov is concluded with the phrase, describing his behaviour at the funeral of Zhivago and at the same time revealing his cowardly humility and the habit of attracting attention to himself. The traits of the “heroes” of their time, deftly blending in and adjusting to the new conditions, are embodied in Markel. Having replaced the yard-keeper's cap by the administrator's powers, he still remained a dark, ignorant person. Markel's self-aggrandizement transforms into omnipotence, into the triumph of mediocrity, so meaningful after the death of Yuri Zhivago. The thoroughness of the work on this image, the deepening of the negative features that appear while comparing him with different characters suggest how much the writer is concerned about the fate of people who are in the power of the Markels, terrible for their mediocrity and ordinariness.

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