A Play (Chekhov)
Short summary
Russia, presumably late 19th century. Pavel Vassilyevitch reluctantly agreed to listen to a play written by Mme. Murashkin, a persistent lady who had visited his home five times seeking his opinion.
Despite his attempts to avoid the reading, he eventually surrendered to her pleas for just half an hour of his time. The lady began reading her five-act play about a young woman building a school and hospital in a village, and her relationship with a cynical man named Valentin.
As the reading continued, Pavel Vassilyevitch grew increasingly distressed. He struggled to stay awake, his mind wandering to mundane thoughts about household items and his health. By the third act, he was hallucinating, seeing the lady swell and shrink before his eyes.
Looking round him wildly Pavel Vassilyevitch got up, yelled in a deep, unnatural voice, snatched from the table a heavy paperweight, and beside himself, brought it down with all his force on the authoress's head...
He immediately confessed to the murder when the maidservant entered the room. However, the jury ultimately acquitted him of the crime.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
Pavel Vassilyevitchs reluctant meeting with a persistent visitor
Pavel Vassilyevitch had just finished lunch when his servant Luka announced that a lady visitor had been waiting for him for over an hour. Despite Pavel's initial refusal to see her, claiming he was busy, Luka informed him that the lady had already visited five times and was nearly in tears from her desperation to meet with him. Reluctantly, Pavel agreed to receive her in his study.
Mme. Murashkins introduction and her request to read her play
Before meeting his visitor, Pavel attempted to appear busy by taking a pen in one hand and a book in the other. The lady who awaited him was large and stout with a red face, wearing spectacles and fashionable dress that included a high hat with a reddish bird. She immediately began speaking in an agitated manner, introducing herself as Mme. Murashkin and claiming they had previously met at the Hrutskys.
Mme. Murashkin professed great admiration for Pavel's talent and writing, insisting she wasn't flattering him but merely giving credit where due. She then revealed that she too had some literary experience, having published three children's stories and translated various works. Finally, she came to the purpose of her visit: she had written a play and wanted Pavel's opinion before sending it to the censor.
Pavel Vassilyevitch liked no articles but his own. When threatened with the necessity of reading other people's, or listening to them, he felt as though he were facing the cannon's mouth.
When Mme. Murashkin produced her fat manuscript, Pavel took fright and suggested she leave it for him to read later. However, she insisted on reading it aloud to him immediately. Despite his protests about being busy and needing to leave, she begged for just half an hour of his time, explaining she was departing for Kazan the next day and desperately needed his opinion. Unable to refuse her emotional pleas, Pavel reluctantly agreed to listen.
Pavel Vassilyevitch was cotton-wool at core, and could not refuse. When it seemed to him that the lady was about to burst into sobs and fall on her knees, he was overcome with confusion and muttered helplessly.
The torturous first act of Mme. Murashkins play
Mme. Murashkin began reading her play. The first scene featured a footman and a housemaid tidying a luxurious drawing room while discussing their young mistress, Anna Sergyevna, who was building a school and hospital in the village. After the footman left, the maid delivered a monologue about education being light and ignorance darkness. When the footman returned, he spoke at length about their master, the General, who opposed his daughter's views and wanted to marry her to a rich kammer junker.
When the servants exited, Anna herself appeared and announced she hadn't slept all night because she'd been thinking about Valentin Ivanovitch, the son of a poor teacher who helped his sick father without payment. According to Anna, Valentin had studied all sciences but had no faith in friendship or love, had no purpose in life, and longed for death. She declared she must save him.
As Mme. Murashkin continued reading, Pavel listened with mounting anguish, understanding nothing of the play. His thoughts wandered to personal matters - his wife's request to buy tape, cheese, and tooth-powder, and the flies that had spotted her portrait. When Mme. Murashkin paused to ask if a monologue was too long, Pavel, who hadn't been listening, guiltily assured her it was fine.
Pavels increasing agony as the play continues
The play continued with scenes between Anna and Valentin discussing love and intellect. By the sixteenth scene, Pavel was yawning, accidentally making a sound like a dog catching a fly. Embarrassed, he tried to appear attentive. When Mme. Murashkin finally reached the end of Act I, Pavel started to rise, but she immediately turned the page and began reading Act II, which opened in a village street with a school on the right and a hospital on the left.
Pavel inquired how many acts the play contained, and when Mme. Murashkin replied "Five," she quickly resumed reading before he could escape. Valentin was now looking out of the schoolhouse window while villagers carried goods to an inn in the background.
Like a man condemned to be executed and convinced of the impossibility of a reprieve, Pavel Vassilyevitch gave up expecting the end, abandoned all hope, and simply tried to prevent his eyes from closing...
As the reading dragged on, Pavel's perception began to distort. Mme. Murashkin's voice sounded like meaningless noise in his ears. He thought about trivial matters like forgetting to take his soda and wondered about having a bilious attack. He noticed a sparrow on the window. His eyelids grew heavy, and Mme. Murashkin began to appear misty before his eyes, swaying and changing shape - sometimes swelling to an immense size with only her mouth visible, sometimes shrinking to the size of a bottle.
The play continued with Valentin holding Anna in his arms, declaring she had given him new life but lamenting it was too late to save him. Pavel startled awake, staring at Mme. Murashkin with dim, smarting eyes. The reading had reached Scene XI, where the Baron and Police Inspector appeared, and Valentin offered himself for arrest while Anna proclaimed her love for him.
Pavels violent outburst and its aftermath
As Mme. Murashkin continued reading, she appeared to swell again in Pavel's distorted vision. Looking around wildly, Pavel suddenly rose, let out a deep, unnatural yell, grabbed a heavy paperweight from the table, and brought it down with all his force on the playwright's head.
A minute later, when the maidservant ran into the room, Pavel told her to turn him in to the authorities, declaring, "I've killed her!" The story concludes by stating that when Pavel was brought to trial for his violent act, the jury acquitted him.
The jury's decision suggests they sympathized with Pavel's suffering through the interminable reading of Mme. Murashkin's play, finding his extreme reaction understandable, if not justifiable, under the circumstances.