Ivan Bormenthal and Sharikov relationship

The relationship between Ivan Bormenthal and Sharikov is a progression from medical collaboration to direct confrontation. Bormenthal helps carry out the operation that transforms Sharik, but his later dealings with Sharikov are marked by insults, challenges over respect, and escalating physical conflict. The relationship reaches its crisis when Sharikov draws a revolver on Bormenthal and Bormenthal overcomes and restrains him.

From Surgical Collaboration to Conflict

During the operation on Sharik, Bormenthal is the surgeon expected to act at the crucial moment. Professor Preobrazhensky tells him to pass the gland immediately when the operation reaches the turkish saddle and to begin suturing without delay, since bleeding could cost them time and the dog’s life. The exchange places Bormenthal in a position of close professional cooperation with the professor, while Sharik remains the vulnerable subject of their procedure.

Even amid this urgent work, the professor says that he has grown used to having the dog around and feels sorry for him. That attachment makes the operation more than a technical undertaking, though the evidence does not show Bormenthal expressing the same feeling. His role is defined by surgical responsibility; the later hostility between him and Sharikov sharply reverses the earlier scene in which Bormenthal’s work was directed toward preserving Sharik’s life.

Insults and the Demand for Respect

In a later confrontation, the professor calls Sharikov a lout and blames him for having caused the situation, objecting to his audacity. The rebuke establishes the antagonistic atmosphere surrounding Sharikov, but the relationship between Sharikov and Bormenthal becomes explicit when Bormenthal insists on being addressed by his name and patronymic. His retort makes respectful address a point of contention rather than a formality left unchallenged.

The disagreement does not remain verbal. Bormenthal takes Sharikov by the scruff of the neck and shakes him so forcefully that Sharikov’s shirt tears. The incident shows their conflict crossing into physical coercion, with Bormenthal using direct force to control Sharikov. It also foreshadows the more consequential reversal in which Sharikov, rather than Bormenthal, initiates an armed threat.

The Armed Confrontation

The relationship reaches its most dangerous point when Sharikov raises a hand toward the professor and then draws a revolver on Bormenthal. The action turns their antagonism into an immediate threat to Bormenthal and brings the household conflict to a crisis. Bormenthal responds by restraining Sharikov; the scene ends with Sharikov subdued and Bormenthal holding him down.

The encounter reverses the balance of force established in the earlier altercation. Bormenthal had previously seized and shaken Sharikov; now Sharikov produces a weapon, and Bormenthal’s response prevents the threat from continuing. The evidence presents the confrontation as the culmination of their hostility, not as a reconciliation: their relationship has moved from shared involvement in an operation on Sharik to a struggle in which Bormenthal must physically stop Sharikov.