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

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

**Role:** supporting

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

## Snapshot

A cobbler's wife whose household once sheltered a dying idealist, and whose memory of his self-denying life still shapes how she measures her own.

## Who they are

Matryóna's home became the final refuge of a consumptive university man whose whole existence was one long act of giving, and she speaks of him with a reverence that borders on love. The tension lies in what she took from him: a standard of self-sacrifice she can neither fully imitate nor forget. Her recollections anchor the story's moral center, showing how one person's radical humility can quietly reorganize another's conscience.

## In the story

### [Three Deaths](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leo_tolstoy_short_fiction_se/chapters/three-deaths)

The lady's maid, referred to as Matryosha. She is healthy and robust, but awkward and fearful in the presence of her dying mistress.

### [What Men Live By](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leo_tolstoy_short_fiction_se/chapters/what-men-live-by)

Simon's wife. Initially hostile and wanting to turn the stranger out, she is transformed by Simon's words about God and becomes caring, providing food and shelter.

### [Two Old Men](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leo_tolstoy_short_fiction_se/chapters/two-old-men)

The old woman (granny) of the starving family, who recounts Elisha's kindness and how he 'made human beings of us'.

## Links

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