“The artist should not be the judge of his characters and their conversations, but merely an unprejudiced witness.”Anton Cehov · Scrisori · 1900 · lui Aleksei Suvorin, 1888
The writer is a witness, not a judge: the verdict belongs to the reader.
Chekhov complained in his letters that the literature of his day moralized too heavily: the hero was good or wicked by design. He proposed something else — a witness who records a whole person, motives and weaknesses included, without labeling him. The mechanism is psychological: if the author tells you whom to despise, you comply and stop thinking; if you see only deeds and words, the judgment becomes yours. That is how characters like Dr. Ragin came into being.
Why it matters It serves anyone who writes, and anyone who listens to people: staying a witness before judging produces better understanding than quick condemnation.