Morphine by Mikhail Bulgakov. Short summary

5 seconds

Dr. Bomgard receives a letter from a fellow student, Polyakov. He informs him of his illness and asks him to come over. Polyakov is addicted to morphine and, unable to overcome himself, shoots himself.

1 minute

Dr. Bomgard is pleased. At last he is being transferred to a city where there is a press and electricity. Most importantly, there are other doctors here, now he is not the only one.

The hero receives a letter from a fellow student, Polyakov. He writes that he is very ill and only Bomgard can help him. The doctor scolds his colleague in his heart and cannot pick up the illness that would prevent him from getting to the city on his own.

In the morning Polyakov himself is brought to the hospital with a wound. He manages to give Bomgrad his diary and dies.

From the manuscripts, the doctor learns that Polyakov is addicted to morphine. He was first injected when his stomach twisted. And then he injected himself. Drugs gave him a sense of joy, encouraged him to do things, filled him with a desire to live and work.

Once he went to the city for treatment, but escaped from the hospital, stealing all the morphine. The last time he managed to go 14 hours without an injection. However, Polyakov decided that this could not go on and shot himself.