Written in 1893, Anton Chekhov's short story “The Black Monk” is one of the writer's most powerful and revealing works. It reflects the deep philosophy of the author, as well as the feelings of worry and anxiety that, according to the memoirs of his contemporaries, pursued Anton Chekhov at that time. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayThe author himself described his work as follows: “This is a medical, historical history of Morbi” (Carter) . Indeed, Chekhov draws attention to the type of illness from which his hero Kovrin suffers; this disease is megalomania, a disease from which many 19th century Russians suffered. Apparently, the main theme of the story is to show how a person's life can be shattered by this burning passion and all the artistic means used enhance the understanding of the subject. Chekhov is one of the greatest masters of the written word and sensory details in Russian literature. But in this work he showed himself as a great master of painting, because color, because every mention of color in this story is loaded with meaning. The action of the story is connected with a garden, which itself should talk about the variety of colors. . At the beginning of the story, we read: "In fact, Kovrin had never seen such a wealth of flowers as at Pesotsky's" (Chekhov). But, curiously, Chekhov does not describe any of these "different colors" and indicates a clear distinction: "all possible shades, from sparkling white to soot black" (Chekhov). By emphasizing these unusual colors for the garden, Chekhov shows their symbolic meaning. The symbolism of white and black colors dates back to ballads. Perhaps this is what Chekhov meant when he wrote that Kovrin "found in a book" a legend or "heard it somewhere." Indeed, the legend that struck Kovrin has the character of a ballad about the monk who, because of his sins, had to travel the universe forever, and always at night, when the pale moon appears in the sky. It is the combination of a monk's black appearance and the pale moon or dawn or the combination of black robes and white face ("pale face, terribly pale!" - as described by the author) which explicitly directs the reader towards the link with a traditional romantic ballad. And what do these colors mean in a ballad? White - the color of youth, life and goodness. Black is always a symbol of death. If we delve even further into the contrast between black and white, we see that it goes back to the Bible, or more precisely to Revelation. In "The Black Monk" the date of appearance of the black monk is indicated exactly - a thousand years ago. In Revelation, the thousand years are the time of the devil's confinement. It is quite possible that the black monk is a devil, one whose presence extends beyond the earth for a thousand years (the universe in the romantic tradition is often identified with the abyss). Chekhov thus opens another facet of color symbolism: the color white symbolizes God's chosen one. A man worthy to wear white garments is a man without sin and blameless. At the beginning of the story, Kovrin calms down: "I will not do harm; therefore, in my hallucinations there is nothing bad," but the monk who visits him is dressed in black. The blank in the story only appears once more, at the very end. Kovrin breaks Tania's letter and throws the remains on the floor, but they turn white and give him no rest. The simplest solution would be to link the symbolism of white to the image of Tanya in this episode, but such an interpretation does not