Tolstoy's plays have gone relatively unstudied by scholars. Unlike his fiction, his plays do not so thoroughly engage in psychological analysis and introspection. In cases of sinful, violent behavior, however, sometimes reason and rationalization cannot explain why a character acts the way he or she does, and thus the stage is an ideal forum for conveying an aesthetic and moral idea. The preeminent example, and one of Tolstoy's most successful plays, is The Realm of Darkness: If a Claw Gets Stuck, the Bird is Lost (1886). The purpose of this chapter is to illuminate the aesthetic context for Tolstoy's depiction of violence in The Realm of Darkness, a work that exemplifies many of the artistic goals Tolstoy had for his fiction in the latter part of his career.

Three critical points of view may be assumed for viewing the less significant work of a major author, in this case the plays of Tolstoy.