How does the story “Two Landowners” criticize serf-owning landowners?

In his short story "Two Landowners," part of the collection A Sportsman’s Sketches, Ivan Turgenev criticizes the institution of serfdom by presenting a study of two distinct types of despotic serf-owners.1

The story serves as a critique of the Russian manorial gentry by highlighting the inherent brutality of landowners toward their peasants. By portraying these figures as despotic, Turgenev exposes the moral corruption and injustice embedded in the serf-owning system. This work, along with other sketches in the collection, was instrumental in raising awareness among the upper-class reading public regarding the humanity of the peasantry and the cruelty of their treatment, ultimately contributing to the social sentiment that led to the emancipation of the serfs in 1861.1