person
Pyotr Ilyich
also: Петр Ильич
A shabby, self-doubting Russian dentist who compares his failing practice to his prosperous former classmate Osip Frantsych's, and gets a cynical lecture on 'general education' -- i.e., showmanship, decor, and advertising -- as the real secret of success; too honest or too inept to fake the confidence the trade demands, he ends the dialogue no better off, only enlightened as to why.