The role of the beagle in Chameleon

Platform role

Chekhov's Chameleon depicts the trial of dog bites by police officer Ochulov. The little hound in the novel is undoubtedly the perpetrator of this incident. Dog bites are not news, but it is through such a small matter of daily life that the writer presents a major social problem, that is, to expose the reactionary and hypocritical police system under the tsarist Russian dictatorship. It is precisely because of the bite of the beagle that a chance has been created for the police officer to try the case; only then has the police officer's lip-wagging, seeing the wind make the rudder, rebelling, becoming inflamed and attached to the situation, and bullying the ugly and despicable performances of flattering have built a platform for self-expression, self-exposure, and self-shaping; and only then have the contradictions between the police officers and the people at the bottom of society been exposed.

Directorial role

"Chameleon" is unique and ingeniously conceived, and the setting of the role of the beagle is crucial. When the police officer tried the case, it was difficult to determine the identity of this small beagle, and the people around him could only speculate uncertainly. That is to say, there is a temporary uncertainty about the identity of the beagle. It is precisely because of the repeated speculation about the identity of the beagle that the police officer's views and attitudes toward the beagle have changed repeatedly during the trial of the case. If the beagle could speak directly to its owner like a parrot, even if the police officer had a magical ability to change his color, he would not be able to change color anyway. The magic is that this little beagle can only bite people and cannot speak, and its identity can only be guessed by others. Therefore, we can fully think that the beagle is actually silently directing the police officer's "performance" through the mouth of others. It is precisely under the guidance of the "director" whose identity is temporarily unknown, the storyline of the novel has developed dramatically, the character of the police officer can be displayed layer by layer, and the chameleon image of the police officer can jump on the paper and be remembered, so that the theme of the novel can be cleverly revealed.

Background effect

In the course of the trial, a small hound actually made Ochulov, who was a police officer, sweat profusely and suddenly feel cold. It is not that the beagle has a magical and specific physiological function, but because behind it lies a larger hound, General Sigalov and so on. The police officers only have a share of reverence for them, only to defend their interests to the death, and for such a small beagle, of course, there is only protection. If the dog is punished for deceiving the Lord's stupidity, the police officer will not do it in vain and does not dare to do it. In this respect, the police officer is actually a servile and very poor dog. Moreover, the police officer is mixed in a complex and turbid social environment, and in order to obtain the right and space to survive, he also has to lose his personality and dignity in exchange for the space to survive. Therefore, in the course of the trial, he could only see the "dog" acting, completely defending it from the position of the little beagle, presiding over the dog's dog's path, and truly becoming a loyal lackey raised by the tsarist Russian autocratic ruling class. Dogs trial dog cases, dogs defend each other, the result is of course the dog wins and loses, it is not surprising. The police officer and the beagle dog played the roles of the chief judge and the trial in the dog case respectively, and jointly performed a comical farce, which can be described as the two dogs on the same stage, which is a fun contrast.