# Denis — Short Fiction character guide

> Denis in Short Fiction by Anton Chekhov.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Denis Grigoryev, Nikitin, Denis Petrovitch Nikitin

**First appearance:** 0000-a-living-chattel

## Snapshot

A shop clerk who hides a weeping woman behind pyramids of corset boxes, drowning her confession of love in loud patter about whalebone, garters, and Valenciennes lace.

## Who they are

Denis Grigoryev, known in the shop as Nikolay Timofeitch, stands among stacked boxes of corsets and garters, the only person Polinka trusts with her tears. She whispers that she loves someone else; he turns pale, shrugs, and tells her to wipe her eyes while customers approach. His frantic catalogue of laces and whalebone becomes a kind of mercy, a way of shielding her from exposure even as it buries his own unspoken feeling. He matters because his restraint and his performance of indifference define the story's quiet heartbreak.

## Relationships

### [Masha](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/characters/masha)

_romantic_

Denis and Masha are lovers or sweethearts, with a tender and affectionate bond.

### [Masha](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/characters/masha)

_romantic_

Denis and Masha are lovers or sweethearts, with a tender and affectionate bond.

### [Masha](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/characters/masha)

_romantic_

Denis and Masha are lovers or sweethearts, with a tender and affectionate bond.

## In the story

### [A Malefactor](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/chapters/a-malefactor)

The accused peasant who unscrewed a railway nut for a fishing weight.

### [Mari d'Elle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/chapters/mari-d-elle)

The husband of the singer, now a drunken, scheming hanger-on who pesters his wife about business ideas and money.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/chapters/i)

The coachman; drives the chaise, teases the sheepdogs, and listens to the conversation without understanding it.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/chapters/ii)

Whistles cheerfully and lashes the horses during the storm; walks about by the horses at the stream.

### [The Proposal](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/chapters/i)

The protagonist; a teacher who proposes to Masha and defends Pushkin's psychology.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/chapters/iv)

Not present in this chapter.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/characters/denis
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/characters