Heart of a Dog

Bulgakov, a renowned playwright in the Soviet Union, applies a theatrical structure to his novella, The Heart of a Dog, with a small “cast” of characters and a setting limited almost entirely to the interior of Professor Philipovich’s apartment. Bulgakov uses this setting to explore in miniature the class conflicts that were roiling Soviet society at large in the 1920s.

Using his characters and setting as a microcosm of class conflict, Philipovich represents the petty bourgeoisie. In Marxist analysis, the petty bourgeoisie is the class of people who own their own means of production but who work alongside their wage laborers in small businesses, such as shop owners, artisans, and, in Philipovich’s case, medical practices. His assistant, Doctor Bormenthal, is an aspiring member of the bourgeois class and is therefore Philipovich’s most loyal supporter. The household staff, consisting of the cook, Darya, and the housemaid, Zina, is representative of the Lumpenproletariat, or members of the working class who lack class consciousness. The House Committee, in general, and Shvonder specifically, represent the Bolshevik proletariat who have newly invested with political power. When Sharik(ov) transforms from a contented lapdog of the bourgeois to a self-identified worker with access to political power, it throws the entire dynamic of the household into chaos and threatens Philipovich’s authority and control.