# The Doctor — Short Fiction character guide

> The Doctor in Short Fiction by Leonid Andreyev.

**Role:** minor

**First appearance:** 0001-short-fiction

## Who they are

A medical professional appearing in various narratives.

## In the story

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/chapters/iv)

The narrator, who confesses to the murder and describes his emotional state.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/chapters/v)

Professor T., the psychiatrist Kerzhentseff visits to obtain a diagnosis of insanity.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/chapters/vi)

Kerzhentseff refers to himself in the third person as 'Dr. Kerzhentseff' and contemplates his own insanity.

### [Fragment V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/chapters/part-i-fragment-v)

Exhausted and trembling, he leads rescue efforts, threatens a soldier with court-martial, and later wakes the narrator for another mission.

### [Fragment VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/chapters/part-i-fragment-vi)

A lean, bony old doctor, tainted with tobacco smoke and carbolic acid, who speaks of the madness of war and predicts a future of universal chaos.

### [Fragment IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/chapters/part-i-fragment-ix)

The narrator's brother, who confesses his fear of going mad, describes intrusive violent thoughts, dread of crowds, and a sense of losing grip on reality.

### [Fragment X](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/chapters/part-ii-fragment-x)

Mentioned as someone who longed to burn houses and poison water, reflecting the narrator's own rage.

### [Fragment XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/chapters/part-ii-fragment-xvi)

Mentioned indirectly as someone people seek out when they feel their reason slipping, but not a direct character in the chapter.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/the_doctor
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters