46 pages • 1 hour read
Leo TolstoyHadji Murat
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1912A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 20-25Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 20 Summary
Hadji Murat has stayed a week at Major Petrov's, earning Marya Dmitrievna's affection. He and Butler, an officer at the fort, have grown close, visiting one another and communicating through an interpreter or gestures. Butler enjoys Murat’s company and appreciates Khanefi, his murid, who sings mountain songs. One song captures Butler’s attention and deepens his interest in their culture, leading him to adopt their traditional dress.
During his farewell gathering hosted by Petrov, Murat remains composed, politely declining Marya Dmitrievna's gift of a burka. An unexpected assassination attempt by Arslan Khan, motivated by a blood feud, is thwarted by Murat's quick reflexes, with Butler and Petrov diffusing the aftermath. Murat attributes the incident to cultural norms and, as he departs, expresses gratitude, solidifying his friendship with Marya Dmitrievna and Butler.
Chapter 21 Summary
Prince Baryatinsky, a new commander, arrives at the Russian forts in Chechnya, mobilizing troops for action per Emperor Nicolas’s command. Butler, reuniting with old comrades, comes to the camp and yields to gambling, incurring a heavy debt. Desperate, he seeks financial help from relatives and considers asking Major Petrov, though Petrov’s wife, Marya Dmitrievna, likely won’t consent. Major Petrov suggests asking the canteen keeper, but this proves fruitless. Butler's only hope now rests on the responses from his brother and stingy relative.
Chapter 22 Summary
Hadji Murat, after a week in the major's house, returns to Tiflis and persistently visits Vorontsov, urging him to exchange mountaineer prisoners for his family. Vorontsov gives noncommittal promises in response. In the meantime, Murat requests to relocate to Nukha in Transcaucasia, closer to his family. Vorontsov allows the move.
In Nukha, Murat receives news that the Avars, who are loyal to him, are plotting to free his family but lack the resources to do so, so Murat offers a financial reward. Councillor Kirillov, sent by Vorontsov, arrives to visit Murat with a sum of money and a summons to Tiflis. Murat demands the money, and after receiving the funds, he dismissively smacks Kirillov on the head.
That evening, Murat learns from two spies that his allies are too intimidated by Shamil to attempt a rescue. Murat contemplates his limited options: Take Shamil at his word and return to him in Vedeno, or conquer Caucasia for the Russian Emperor. Murat knows he must quickly decide or risk losing his family. The night is restless as he deliberates this critical decision.
Chapter 23 Summary
By midnight, Hadji Murat resolves to join the Avars in Vedeno, risking death to save his family. He hasn't decided whether he will rejoin the Russians after the rescue. He initiates an escape from Russian oversight, arming his men for departure. Khanefi sings a song that tells of a valiant battle and sacrifice for a cause. At dawn, with his family in mind and time pressing, Murat readies his departure.
Chapter 24 Summary
At the Russian fort, Butler romanticizes the aspects of war as solace amidst his gambling troubles; he drinks excessively and makes unwelcome advances toward Marya Dmitrievna. At the end of April, a new detachment arrives, preparing for an offensive through Chechnya under Prince Baryatinsky's command.
There is a boisterous dinner at the fort, but Butler leaves the festivity early only to encounter Marya Dmitrievna. As they speak, an officer named Kamenev arrives with a sack. He opens the sack and lifts out Murat’s severed head. The shock of this sends Marya Dmitrievna quickly back inside while Butler remains fixated, having recently developed a friendship with Murat. Butler seeks a full account of Murat's demise from Kamenev, who begins to recount the story.
Chapter 25 Summary
Kamenev tells Butler the story. Hadji Murat, resolved to take a bold risk, planned to escape into the mountains with his Avar allies to free his family. Despite orders that he was never to leave without a convoy of Cossacks, Murat set out with five of his henchmen. Murat was followed by a group of four Cossacks. A clash ensued, and all the Cossacks were killed or scattered, leaving Murat's party free.
Once alerted, the Russian commander at Nukha dispatched forces and set a bounty on Murat. Hindered by a flooded rice field, Murat and his men hid in shrubs, waiting for nightfall as they heard the singing of nightingales.
In the night, they were surrounded by the Russian militia, and Murat prepared for a last stand, refusing to surrender. At dawn, the militia attacked and shot Murat. Though wounded and extremely outnumbered, Murat emerged from a ditch brandishing a dagger and confronted his attackers. His fall prompted a rush of militia, but a sudden movement halted them. Collapsing finally, his defiance ended only as his life did. His head was taken as a victory token. Amidst this, nightingales resumed the songs that they had hushed while the firing lasted.
The narrator concludes, "It was for this death I was reminded by the crushed thistle in the midst of the plowed field" (116).
Chapters 20-25 Analysis
In Chapter 20, while at a Russian fort, Murat forges connections with Russians like Butler and Marya Dmitrievna, sharing a mountain song with them. The song's lyrics relay a declaration of mastery over death: “[C]old you are, death, but I was your master. The earth will take my body but heaven will receive my soul" (90). Here, Tolstoy foreshadows Murat's death, hinting at his fate through the song's themes of transcendence of the soul beyond death. The song echoes the spirit of the Chechen people, who view death not as an end but as a passage to eternal remembrance and glory. Hadji Murat cherishes the song for its insights; he shares it to impart his heritage to the Russians. Thus, Tolstoy highlights the role of traditions in maintaining identity and the power of cultural exchange in nurturing understanding and respect. This sharing of traditions and the resultant friendships between the Russians and Chechens act as a bridge, connecting two seemingly distinct peoples.
In Chapter 21, Butler introduces themes of personal vice and the impacts of war on individual soldiers. His gambling problem and subsequent debt offer insight into the vulnerabilities and pressures that afflict those caught in war. This exploration of Butler's personal demons serves as a commentary on the broader repercussions of conflict on individual lives. In Chapter 24, Butler finds himself romanticizing aspects of war as a means of escaping his gambling debt. However, his idealization of war proves ironic, starkly contrasting with the brutal culmination of the narrative: the delivery of Hadji Murat's severed head. This revelation exposes the glaring dichotomy between romanticized notions of conflict and the realities of The Atrocities of War.
Chapter 22 revisits the political and strategic obstacles in Hadji Murat's quest to save his family, highlighting his relentless negotiations with Vorontsov and his tactical move to Nukha. Councillor Kirillov’s arrival in Nukha marks a breaking point for Murat, manifesting his extreme frustration with Russian bureaucracy through his physical confrontation with the councilor. This incident critiques the inefficiency of the state and propels Murat toward taking independent action. The chapter concludes amid tension and uncertainty, positioning Murat at a crucial crossroads: to place his trust in Shamil or to support the Russian campaign.
In Chapter 25, Hadji Murat makes the fateful decision to evade Russian oversight and rescue his family on his own. Driven by familial loyalty, honor, and a sense of duty, he defies explicit orders not to act without a Cossack escort. His final confrontation with the Russian militia embodies the novella’s themes of The Atrocities of War and the Resilience of the Human Spirit; Murat’s spirit remains unyielding as he faces death, yet his death is emblematic of the futility and destruction that pervades war. Thus, Murat becomes another casualty in the seemingly endless cycle of violence. His death, marked by the beheading and the cessation of gunfire only for the nightingales to resume their song, symbolizes the transient nature of conflict against the backdrop of the eternal natural world. The nightingales, singing before and after the confrontation, signify the persistence of life and beauty amidst human violence. Moreover, the placement of the final chapter out of chronological order is a notable element of the novella. By concluding with the description of Murat's death, Tolstoy invites a reflection on the events leading to this moment, considering the broader implications of Murat's life and death within the context of the novel's themes. The Tartar thistle, referenced in the novel's concluding lines, symbolizes resilience and the struggle for survival. Just as the thistle endures and even thrives in adverse conditions, so too does Hadji Murat's spirit, even in death.
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