Shakespeare's Hamlet and Chekhov's Ivanov and the Type of the Russian Intellectual of the Late 19th Century Russia

Shakespeare’s Hamlet influenced Chekhov's plays, from Ivanov to The Cherry Orchard. Ivanov was the first genuine literary figure to be created by Chekhov and his version of the character of the Russian Hamlet. This study is not only concerned with the Hamletian elements in Ivanov, but it also tries to stress the fact that Chekhov was casting an eye on Hamlet while creating the character of his protagonist. The personality of the hero of this play still provokes critical arguments. However, the work here looks at Ivanov as a tragic character, the Russian Hamlet of the 1880s, and views the character as one of the idealistic, psychologically tortured and paralyzed intellectual, and in the latest tradition of the superfluous man. It also examines how far Chekhov was held by critics to have created a world – weary character with particular relevance to the Russia of the 1880s, a time of disillusionment and despair for a generation of Russian intellectuals. With particular reference and comparison with the Shakespearian hero, and taking the historical moments into consideration, this work will try to analyze the complex psychology of Ivanov which was a matter of some difficulty for its creator. Keywords: Shakespeare, Chekhov, Hamlet, Ivanov, Superfluous Man, Literary Type, Russian Intellectual.