the beggar

             The story 'The Beggar' by Anton Chekhov is about how Lushkoff, a drunk, poor beggar works his way through being a rich and well-to-do man. When he was still a drunk, Lushkoff came to an advocate, Skvortsoff for some money, saying he had an offer to work in another province as a schoolteacher but had no money to get there. Skvortsoff noticed the man with his drunken eyes and ragged fawn-coloured overcoat. Suddenly he remembered meeting the same beggar just the previous day on the road. At that time, when he asked who he was, the beggar replied he was a student who had been expelled. Lushkoff became nervous and stammered that he was a schoolteacher and not a student,
             "N-no...I am a village schoolteacher, and if you like I can show you my papers."
             Skvortsoff, in a rage, started to shout at Lushkoff for lying, saying that regardless of how poor and hungry he might have been, lying would get him nowhere. Clearly he was disgusted. The advocate lost his temper and began to rebuke the poor man mercilessly. What Skvortsoff got upset over was the man was taking advantage of his most prized character- "...his kindness, his tender heart, his compassion for all unhappy beings."
             Finally, Lushkoff told him the truth – that he formerly sang in a Russian choir and was sent away for drunkenness. He also told Skvortsoff about his hopelessness and inability to find himself work. At this, the advocate told the beggar to come to him on the first day of every month and chop wood for him, beginning that very day.
             Skvortsoff asked his cook, Olga to take Lushkoff to the wood-shed so that he could chop wood. Lushkoff was dressed like a ragged scarecrow and wasn't consented to go along with Olga to chop wood, not because he hungry and wanted work, but because "his pride and shame had been trapped my his own words." Also, he lacked strength, was unhealthy and couldn
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the beggar. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 01:12, May 05, 2025, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/24188.html