# Emelyán — The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories character guide

> Emelyán in The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories by Leo Tolstoy.

**Role:** major

**First appearance:** 0043-where-love-is-god-is

## Snapshot

A drunkard taken in by a kind couple who see in him a chance to practice the charity they preach, though he tests it daily.

## Who they are

Emelyán arrives at the couple's door ragged and useless, a man whose drinking has already cost him everything worth having. They take him in not because he deserves it but because they believe that is what goodness requires, and his presence becomes a slow experiment in whether patience can survive repeated failure. His struggle to reform — and the couple's struggle to keep believing in him — turns a simple act of kindness into a story about what grace actually demands.

## In the story

### [The Empty Drum](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leo_tolstoy_short_fiction_se/chapters/the-empty-drum)

The poor labourer protagonist. He is kind, obedient to his wife, and survives the King's impossible tasks through her magical aid, ultimately completing a quest for the mysterious drum.

### [Khodinka 332](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leo_tolstoy_short_fiction_se/chapters/khodinka332)

A working man who attends the Khodinka fête, dreams of winning a lottery to improve his life, gets caught in the deadly crush, and later rescues the unconscious Rina.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leo_tolstoy_short_fiction_se/characters/emelyan
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leo_tolstoy_short_fiction_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leo_tolstoy_short_fiction_se/characters