A Woman's Kingdom (Chekhov)
Short summary
Russia, late 19th century. On Christmas Eve, twenty-six-year-old factory owner Anna Akimovna received fifteen hundred roubles from a legal settlement. She disliked such matters and felt uneasy about her position as a wealthy factory owner, believing her workers lived in terrible conditions while she enjoyed luxury.
Anna decided to give the money to someone in need and chose Tchalikov, a poor clerk with a sick wife and five daughters. She visited their squalid apartment and left money for medicine. There she met Pimenov, a factory foreman who lived as their lodger. She was impressed by him despite his rough appearance.
The next day, Christmas morning, Anna received visitors including priests, factory officials, and schoolchildren. She felt lonely and bored with these formalities. During dinner with her guests, the lawyer Lysevitch encouraged her to enjoy life's pleasures, but Anna expressed a desire for a simple family life, even suggesting she might marry a working man like Pimenov.
That evening, while playing cards with her servants, Anna impulsively declared she would marry Pimenov. She ran upstairs, excited by this idea, but soon felt ashamed. She realized the contrast between her dreams and reality.
She thought that if the long day she had just spent could have been represented in a picture, all that had been bad and vulgar would have been true, while her dreams and talk about Pimenov would have stood out as something false.
Anna lay in bed crying, feeling it was too late for happiness. She realized she would never marry Pimenov or escape her factory responsibilities. Her maid Masha, who was in love with the footman Mishenka, joined her in crying. Together they lamented their foolishness and the impossibility of their romantic dreams.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
Anna Akimovnas Christmas Eve reflections and charitable duties
On Christmas Eve, Anna Akimovna received a roll of fifteen hundred roubles from her forest villa bailiff, who had won a lawsuit. She disliked words like "damages" and "won the suit," feeling uneasy about legal matters despite knowing they were necessary for her business. She wished to put the money away, out of her sight.
Anna reflected on her situation with vexation, comparing herself to other women her age who led normal lives while she was burdened with business responsibilities. She worried about the factory workers, scandals, and anonymous letters accusing her of exploiting laborers. She felt trapped in a role she neither understood nor enjoyed.
She thought with vexation that other girls of her age were now busy looking after their households... Only she, for some reason, was compelled to sit like an old woman over these letters...
Anna had already sorted through begging letters, noting small sums to be distributed to each petitioner. She also had to distribute interest money from a sum bequeathed by her late father for the poor. She knew the distribution would be chaotic, with the truly needy fighting for assistance while her own factory workers, who received only their wages, would look on with envy or irony.
The visit to Tchalikovs family and meeting Pimenov
Looking at the fifteen hundred roubles, Anna had an idea to give it to one truly desperate person rather than distribute it among many. She randomly selected a letter from a petty official named Tchalikov, who lived in Gushtchin's Buildings with his consumptive wife and five daughters. Deciding to deliver the money personally, she ordered her horses.
As she rode through the factory yard, Anna felt alienated from the huge buildings where the workers lived. She had only visited the main factory building once since her father's death and found it hellish, with its noise, heat, and dangerous machinery. She felt strange earning hundreds of thousands of roubles from a business she neither understood nor liked.
At Gushtchin's Buildings, Anna found Tchalikov's apartment. Inside, she discovered the family eating dinner in squalid conditions. Tchalikov recognized her immediately, calling her his benefactress and dramatically falling to his knees. His pregnant wife stood by the stove with an oven fork. Anna felt uncomfortable with his theatrical gratitude and decided against giving him the fifteen hundred roubles.
Instead, she offered to write to a doctor friend and left some money for medicine. The Tchalikovs led her to their lodger's room, which was surprisingly clean and tidy. There she saw photographs of her father and herself on the table. The lodger, she learned, was Pimenov, who worked in her factory and repaired watches in his spare time.
Just as Anna finished writing her letter, Pimenov himself returned from the factory. She recognized him as the workman who had once explained the sheet-iron process to her. She felt embarrassed to be found in this awkward situation but managed a brief conversation with him before leaving.
Annas restless Christmas morning and servants greeting
On Christmas morning, Anna overslept despite her maid's attempts to wake her for early church service. When she finally rose, it was half-past nine, and fresh snow had fallen overnight. She felt a childlike joy that it was Christmas, and her maid Masha helped her dress in a gorgeous new outfit.
While dressing, Anna and Masha discussed fortune-telling and marriage. Masha, who was twenty, expressed willingness to marry an old man rather than remain single, while Anna insisted she still hoped to marry a young man despite approaching thirty. When Anna left her room, she was greeted by her footman Mishenka, who congratulated her on the holiday in his honeyed voice.
Anna gave Mishenka five roubles as a Christmas gift, which delighted Masha, who was hopelessly in love with him. Anna then went downstairs to the lower story of the house where her aunt kept house. There she was greeted warmly but also reproached for sleeping late and missing church service. The lower rooms were filled with religious icons, the floors shone, and sunshine poured through the windows.
Various visitors filled the lower rooms: old women, orphan girls, and servants. The cook Agafya's relatives had come, and porters and other workers stopped by to offer holiday greetings. Anna walked through the rooms with her retinue, including the tall, thin Varvarushka, who crossed herself before each icon.
Conversations with Aunt and the foremens visit
In the kitchen, Anna found the coachman Panteley on his knees. He had been dismissed for drunkenness in November and was now begging for forgiveness. Anna told him to ask Auntie, who had dismissed him. Auntie entered, scolded Panteley severely, but ultimately forgave him with a warning.
As they sat down to coffee, singers arrived, followed by priests from the almshouses and the workmen's hospital. After the religious visitors left, about twenty men from the factory came to offer Christmas greetings. These were the foremen, mechanics, and other skilled workers who knew their value and could easily find work elsewhere if needed.
The foremen behaved freely in Auntie's presence, even smoking and putting their arms around her. They seemed more comfortable with Auntie than with Anna, whom they viewed as a stranger despite having known her since childhood. Anna, afraid they might think her proud, joined their conversation and asked Pimenov about his clock-mending hobby.
To get hundreds of thousands of roubles from a business which one does not understand and cannot like—how strange it is!
When Anna offered her watch for repair, Pimenov looked at it with tender devotion and promised to fix it despite doctor's orders against fine work. After the foremen left, boys from the school Anna patronized came to sing. The school manager, Nazaritch, was there with a young teacher whom he treated poorly.
The lawyer Lysevitch and counselor Krylins visit
Later that day, Anna received her final visitors: Krylin, an actual civil councillor of sixty, and Lysevitch, a well-known barrister. Krylin wore a uniform with an Anna ribbon and white trousers, and had a face like a lynx. He spoke formally about respecting her father and uncle.
Lysevitch, in contrast, was a tall, handsome fair man with elegant manners. He moved with a swaying step and spoke smoothly and fluently. He was well-fed, healthy, and enjoyed good food. Anna's father had appointed him legal adviser to the factory with a salary of twelve thousand roubles, though he did very little actual work.
Anna knew that Lysevitch had once cheated her out of fifteen thousand roubles in a timber transaction, sharing the money with the manager Nazaritch. She had wept bitterly when she discovered this but had grown used to it. Now Lysevitch greeted her warmly, kissing her hands and expressing genuine admiration for her beauty.
After some conversation about the weather and opera, Anna invited both men to stay for dinner, as they had no more visits to pay. They agreed after some hesitation. Lysevitch became noticeably excited at the prospect of the meal, rubbing his hands and describing past dinners at her father's and uncle's home with great enthusiasm.
Her big house with its chandeliers and pictures... and the young people who came almost every day to ask her for money, and with whom she always felt guilty; how wearisome and alien it all was to her!
Christmas dinner and philosophical discussions
The dinner was excellent, with elaborate holiday dishes and fine wines. Lysevitch ate with obvious pleasure, making disgusting munching sounds. After the third course, he turned to Anna and began expounding on his philosophy of life for young, wealthy women. He suggested she should be independent, clever, elegant, and "a little depraved within limits." He even proposed she should have seven lovers, one for each day of the week.
This conversation troubled Anna. She responded that she could not conceive of love without family life. She explained that she felt lonely and believed that ordinary love would define her duties and clarify her conception of life. What she wanted was peace of soul and tranquility—the opposite of what Lysevitch was suggesting.
I want from love peace of soul, tranquillity; I want the very opposite of musk, and spiritualism, and fin de siècle... in short, a husband and children.
Lysevitch agreed she could marry if she wished but insisted she should "have all experiences" and make haste to live. Angered by his satisfied face, Anna declared she would marry in the simplest way and be happy—perhaps even marry a plain working man, a mechanic or draughtsman.
When Lysevitch suggested she could love anyone she pleased because of her exceptional status, Anna grew emotional. She explained that she had an immense business with two thousand workmen for whom she was responsible before God. She feared continuing as she was, feeling that to go on living her current life or to marry someone as idle as herself would be a crime.
I have an immense business on my hands—two thousand workmen, for whom I must answer before God. The men who work for me grow blind and deaf. I am afraid to go on like this; I am afraid! I am wretched...
Evening festivities and fortune-telling games
After dinner, Lysevitch followed Anna to her study. Unlike the cosy corners with pink or blue lanterns that he disliked, Anna's study with its bare walls and tasteless furniture pleased him. He enjoyed sitting on the Turkish divan watching Anna as she sat on the rug before the fire, thinking she looked like her peasant Old Believer blood was stirring within her.
Lysevitch began telling Anna about literature, particularly praising the French writer Maupassant. He became increasingly animated, pacing the room and using extravagant language to describe Maupassant's work. He then narrated one of Maupassant's stories in great detail, acting out the characters with changes in voice and expression.
Anna listened enthralled, finding the story even better in Lysevitch's telling than in the book itself. The story made her think about life and herself, raising her spirits. She recalled her words at dinner with pride and felt happy when Pimenov rose in her imagination, longing for him to love her.
She remembered her words and thoughts at dinner, and was proud of them; and when Pimenov suddenly rose up in her imagination, she felt happy and longed for him to love her.
After finishing the story, Lysevitch complained about being forty-two instead of thirty, suggesting he was too old for Anna. He then reminded her that he had not received a Christmas present. Anna, realizing they had forgotten his usual gift, remembered the fifteen hundred roubles in her bedroom drawer and gave it to him. He accepted it gracefully, kissing her finger in thanks.
When Krylin and Lysevitch prepared to leave, Anna was uncertain whether to give Krylin money as well. She discreetly slipped him three hundred roubles, which he accepted with surprise, mentioning he could only provide a receipt in the New Year. As they left, Anna saw each man give Mishenka a tip.
Annas loneliness and regrets
After her guests departed, Anna quickly changed out of her dress and ran downstairs, feeling mischievous. In the dining room, she found Auntie, Varvarushka, and two old women having supper with an abundance of food and spirits. The cook Agafyushka stood in the doorway talking to them.
Soon after, a pilgrim woman known as Stinging Beetle arrived. She was a thin woman of fifty with keen eyes and a sharp chin, nicknamed for her hostility toward everyone. After eating and drinking vodka, they began playing a game of "kings" as they had in previous years.
During the game, they discussed marriage and the difficulty of finding good husbands. Stinging Beetle suggested that Anna should marry Pimenov, and Anna impulsively agreed, striking the table with her fist and declaring she would marry him. Suddenly feeling ashamed of her burning cheeks and everyone's attention, she ran upstairs to the piano.
Alone in the drawing room, Anna played waltzes and sang softly to herself, imagining how she would ask Pimenov to take her burden from her. She longed for a change in her life and was terrified at the thought of her old life continuing. As the night grew late, she walked through all the rooms, lay down briefly on the sofa, and read Christmas greeting letters.
At midnight, Mishenka brought her tea and mentioned he had heard the jokes about Pimenov downstairs. His laughter and comments made Anna feel unclean. She closed her eyes and imagined Pimenov dining with Lysevitch and Krylin. His timid, unintellectual figure seemed pitiful and helpless to her, and she felt repelled by it.
She thought, too, that it was too late to dream of happiness, that everything was over for her, and it was impossible to go back to the life when she had slept under the same quilt with her mother...
Anna realized that all her talk about marrying a workman had been nonsense and wilfulness. She went downstairs to wake Spiridonovna and assure her she had been joking. Back in her bedroom, her maid Masha told her that Tchalikov had come again, drunk, and promised to return tomorrow. Anna exclaimed that she would not see him, thinking bitterly that all she was fit for was helping the poor. She lay down without undressing and sobbed with shame and depression.
"We are fools!" said Anna Akimovna, laughing and crying. "We are fools! Oh, what fools we are!"