A Misfortune (Chekhov)
Short summary
Russia, late 19th century. Sofya Petrovna Lubyantsev, a young married woman, was walking in the woods with Ivan Mihalovitch Ilyin, a lawyer. She asked him to stop pursuing her, as she valued her marriage and family. Ilyin refused to accept friendship, claiming he couldn't control his feelings.
Despite her moral arguments, Sofya felt flattered by his attention. Ilyin accused her of insincerity, saying she arranged their meetings while pretending to reject him. Sofya was confused by this accusation but found herself admiring his passionate speech.
When Ilyin fell to his knees and embraced her, Sofya was alarmed by her own weakness. She hurried home, ashamed of her behavior. She tried to prove to herself that she was still a good wife by preparing dinner for her husband Andrey, but felt irritated by his presence. She told him about her feelings for another man and suggested they leave town, but he dismissed her concerns.
That night, Sofya decided to go out. She asked her sleeping husband to join her, but he didn't respond.
"An overmastering force drove her on, and it seemed as though, if she had stopped, it would have pushed her in the back. 'Immoral creature!' she muttered mechanically. 'Low wretch!'"
Despite her self-reproach, she continued walking, unable to resist the pull toward Ilyin.
Detailed summary
Division into sections is editorial.
Initial meeting in the woods: Sofya confronts Ilyin about his pursuit
Sofya Petrovna Lubyantsev, the wife of notary Lubyantsev, was walking along a cleared track in the woods with Ivan Mihalovitch Ilyin, a lawyer spending the summer nearby. It was a still and sultry evening with feathery-white clouds overhead. They passed a railway embankment where a sentinel paced and a large white church with six domes.
Sofya confronted Ilyin about his persistent pursuit of her. She asked him to stop following her like a shadow, looking at her inappropriately, making advances, and writing strange letters. She questioned where his behavior might lead.
Ilyin remained silent as Sofya continued walking. She noted his complete transformation after five years of friendship and reminded him that she was married with a daughter. She emphasized her love and respect for her husband and her views on the sanctity of marriage. Ilyin responded with contempt at the mention of marriage sanctity, while Sofya insisted she valued her home's peace above all.
"I love my husband, I respect him; and in any case I value the peace of my home. I would rather let myself be killed than be a cause of unhappiness to Andrey and his daughter."
Sofya noticed Ilyin's pallor despite his anger, which touched her. She offered friendship and extended her hand, but Ilyin rejected the offer.
"I am not a schoolboy," he muttered. "I am not in the least tempted by friendship with the woman I love."
The conversation at the bench: Ilyin confesses his love and inability to stop
They reached a bench and sat down. Sofya felt relieved that the difficult conversation was over and the painful question settled. She could now breathe freely and look Ilyin in the face. She felt a sense of superiority as a woman over the man who loved her, pleased to see this strong, intelligent man sitting obediently beside her with his head bowed dejectedly.
After a brief silence, Ilyin declared that nothing was settled. He acknowledged that his behavior was criminal and immoral but argued that stating the obvious was pointless. Instead of empty words, he wanted Sofya to tell him what to do. When she suggested he leave, Ilyin confessed he had tried to leave five times but always turned back. He described his struggle against his feelings as futile.
"I am struggling. I am struggling horribly; but what the devil am I good for if I have no backbone, if I am weak, cowardly! I can't struggle with Nature! Do you understand? I cannot!"
Ilyin grew increasingly agitated, clutching his head and sitting down again. He accused Sofya of insincerity, questioning why she continued to arrange these "chance" meetings instead of giving him a direct answer. Sofya felt exposed, like a decent woman accidentally discovered undressed. She protested that she had always been direct and had just asked him to leave her alone.
Ilyin argued that if she had clearly said "Get away," he would have left long ago. He suggested she was either playing with him or had other motives. Sofya recognized some truth in his words but couldn't formulate a response. When she suggested she was to blame, Ilyin clarified he wasn't accusing her of insincerity, explaining that complete sincerity would make civilization impossible.
Sofya found herself admiring his intellectual conversation, though she didn't understand everything he said. She was attracted to his boldness in addressing great questions. Suddenly realizing her admiration, she became alarmed and tried to redirect the conversation, repeating her request for friendship and asking him to leave her alone.
Sofyas return home and inner turmoil: Her shame and attempts at moral reassurance
Ilyin promised to try again but doubted his efforts would succeed. He spoke of his madness and intoxication with her image, declaring he had never been in love like this before. His passionate words and tears frightened Sofya. He fell to his knees before her, clasping her knees and speaking passionately. In her terror and confusion, she failed to hear his words, instead trying to interpret her own sensations.
"She was angry that instead of brimming over with protesting virtue, she was entirely overwhelmed with weakness, apathy, and emptiness, like a drunken man utterly reckless..."
Sofya couldn't understand why she didn't pull away her hand or why she looked around to see if anyone was watching. The clouds, pines, and the sentinel on the embankment seemed to be observing them. A train whistle broke the spell, and Sofya stood up quickly, mentioning that her husband Andrey would be arriving and wanting dinner.
It turned out to be a goods train, not the local train she expected. When it passed, Sofya turned sharply and walked rapidly back along the track without looking at Ilyin. She was crimson with shame, humiliated not by Ilyin but by her own cowardice and shamelessness in allowing him to embrace her knees.
Conversation with her husband Andrey: Her failed attempt to escape
Upon returning home, Sofya stood motionless in her room, berating herself as a "low creature." To spite herself, she recalled in detail how something had impelled her to seek out Ilyin and how she had enjoyed his attentions. She thought of her husband and daughter, trying to summon tender feelings for them.
Anxious to prove she was still a good wife and mother, Sofya ran to the kitchen and scolded the cook for not having laid the table for Andrey. She tried to imagine her husband's hungry state, laid the table herself, and then found her daughter Varya, hugging her warmly. The child felt cold and heavy in her arms, but Sofya refused to acknowledge this and began explaining to Varya how good and honorable her father was.
When Andrey arrived, Sofya barely greeted him. Her false feelings had already passed without proving anything, leaving her irritated and cross. From her lack of joy at seeing her husband and her dislike of his manner at dinner, she suddenly concluded she was beginning to hate him. She was repulsed by his noisy eating and moving temples as he devoured his sausage.
After dinner, Sofya told Andrey she wanted to leave the place. When he asked where they should go, she suggested a tour. Andrey thought it was too early to return to town and mentioned the office and money concerns. He suggested she go alone if she was bored. Sofya agreed but immediately realized Ilyin would take the opportunity to accompany her on the train.
Evening reception and changed behavior: Sofyas flirtation and recklessness
That evening, visitors arrived at Sofya's home. The men played cards in the dining room while the ladies remained in the drawing room and verandah. Ilyin was the last to arrive, appearing gloomy, morose, and ill. He sat in the corner of the sofa and barely moved all evening. Usually good-humored and talkative, he remained silent and frowned, making only occasional harsh, cutting jests.
Sofya recognized that Ilyin was in earnest, his soul sick with no rest. She understood he was wasting his youth, career, and money for her sake, abandoning his mother and sisters, and struggling with himself. She felt that from simple humanity, he deserved to be treated seriously.
Despite this realization, Sofya did not approach or speak to him. Instead, having decided to leave, she gave herself full license that evening. She flirted, laughed incessantly, and sang with peculiar feeling. Everything delighted and amused her, including the memory of the incident at the bench and the sentinel who had observed them. She was even amused by Ilyin's cutting jests and the red snake pin with diamond eyes in his cravat.
Sofya sang nervously with defiant recklessness, choosing sad, mournful songs about wasted hopes, the past, and old age, as though mocking another's grief. Occasionally she thought something was wrong with her, but continued her reckless behavior.
Final encounter and Sofyas surrender: The climactic scene on the veranda
The party broke up at midnight, with Ilyin the last to leave. Sofya accompanied him to the bottom step of the verandah, intending to tell him about her planned departure with her husband and observe his reaction. The moon was hidden behind clouds, but there was enough light to see the wind playing with his overcoat and the verandah awning. She noticed how pale he was and how he twisted his upper lip trying to smile.
Ilyin addressed her tenderly, preventing her from speaking. With tears in his voice, he showered her with caressing words, even using the familiar "thou" as if she were his wife or mistress. Unexpectedly, he put one arm around her waist and with the other hand took hold of her elbow, kissing the nape of her neck and urging her to come to him at once.
Sofya slipped from his arms and raised her head to express indignation and anger, but could only utter the phrase used by all ordinary women in such situations: "You must be mad." Ilyin continued, saying he felt she was as helpless as he was, in the same plight, loving him and fruitlessly trying to appease her conscience. As she moved away, he caught her lace cuff, insisting that whether today or tomorrow, she would have to give in.
Sofya tore herself away and went inside. Returning to the drawing room, she mechanically closed the piano and sat motionless on a stool, as though expecting something. In the darkness and her extreme lassitude, an oppressive, overpowering desire began to assail her.
"Like a boa-constrictor it gripped her limbs and her soul, and grew stronger every second, and no longer menaced her as it had done, but stood clear before her in all its nakedness."
She sat for half an hour without moving, not restraining herself from thinking of Ilyin. Her thoughts and feelings were now bent with one accord upon a single aim. She tried to struggle but quickly gave up.
"She understood now how strong and relentless was the foe. Strength and fortitude were needed to combat him, and her birth, her education, and her life had given her nothing to fall back upon."
Sofya berated herself as an "immoral wretch" and "low creature." She told herself she had never been moral and had only avoided trouble due to lack of opportunity. She convinced herself that her struggle that day had been a farce, that she had turned in a single day like milk.
A husky tenor sang outside her window, and Sofya decided it was time to go. Her heart began beating violently. She called to her husband, telling him she was in love with someone else. Andrey, sitting up in bed, asked who it was, but Sofya replied that it didn't matter. He didn't believe her but was frightened. After delivering some ineffectual moralizing, he got back into bed.
Despite the late hour, summer visitors were still walking outside. Sofya put on a light cape and stood thinking for a moment. She made one last attempt, asking her sleeping husband if he would come with her for a walk. Receiving no answer, she went out. An overmastering force drove her on, and she felt that if she stopped, it would push her in the back. As she walked, she continued to mutter "Immoral creature! Low wretch!" but the force driving her was stronger than shame, reason, or fear.