The Examining Magistrate (Chekhov)
Short summary
Russia, late 19th century. A district doctor and an examining magistrate were traveling to an inquest. The magistrate told the doctor about a cultured lady who had predicted her own death after childbirth and died exactly as she foretold.
The magistrate explained that the woman had begun predicting her death shortly after discovering her husband's infidelity with a houseguest. Though she forgave him quickly, she became fixated on dying after childbirth, even selecting her burial plot. When she delivered her baby successfully, she announced she could now die, and passed away half an hour later.
The doctor suggested she had poisoned herself. When the magistrate asked why, the doctor pointed out that her death prediction came after discovering her husband's infidelity. The magistrate became agitated, finally revealing that the story was about his own wife.
Overwhelmed by this realization, the magistrate exclaimed:
"My God, if your theory is correct, why it's... it was cruel, inhuman! She poisoned herself to punish someone else! Why, was the sin so great? Oh, my God! And why did you make me a present of this damnable idea!"
The magistrate was devastated, refusing the doctor's dinner invitation. He finally understood that his wife's death was not a mysterious prediction but her deliberate act of revenge for his betrayal.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
The mysterious prediction: a conversation about inexplicable deaths
On a fine spring day, a district doctor and an examining magistrate were driving to an inquest. The magistrate, a man of thirty-five, began discussing mysterious deaths that seemed to defy rational explanation. He mentioned a cultured lady who had predicted her own death and died on the exact day she had foretold, without any apparent cause.
"There's no effect without a cause," said the doctor. "If there's a death there must be a cause for it. But as for predicting it there's nothing very marvellous in that."
The magistrates story about a lady who foretold her own death
The magistrate insisted this case was special. The lady was young, healthy, intelligent, with no superstitions. One day, her husband suggested selling their old coach and changing one of the horses. She responded that it made no difference to her, as she would be in the cemetery before summer. She told him directly that she would die after giving birth to their child.
Her husband dismissed her predictions as mere fancy, but she persisted. Her approaching death became an obsession. When her husband wouldn't listen, she would tell the servants about her impending death.
"Her approaching death became an idée fixe with his wife. When her husband would not listen to her she would go into the kitchen and talk of her death to the nurse and the cook."
She spoke gravely about her death to visitors, became slovenly in her appearance, and even selected a spot for her tomb in the cemetery. Five days before her confinement, she made her will. Her husband grew tired of what he considered nonsense and asked when this silliness would end.
When the time came, her husband got the best midwife from town. The delivery went smoothly. After seeing her baby, she said, "Well, now I can die." She said goodbye, closed her eyes, and half an hour later died, remaining conscious until the end. She died exactly as she had predicted.
The doctors suspicion of suicide by poison
After hearing the story, the doctor suggested they should have conducted an inquest on the woman. When the magistrate asked why, the doctor stated plainly that she hadn't died because of her prediction but had likely poisoned herself.
"You ought to have had an inquest on her," he said. "Why?" "Why, to find out the cause of her death. She didn't die because she had predicted it. She poisoned herself most probably."
The doctor then inquired about the woman's relationship with her husband. The magistrate admitted there had been "misunderstandings" early in their marriage. His wife had once discovered him with another woman, though she had forgiven him quickly.
The doctor asked which came first—the husband's infidelity or the wife's talk of dying. After some thought, the magistrate recalled that she began speaking of death shortly after discovering his unfaithfulness. The doctor suggested that she had decided to poison herself then but waited until after childbirth to avoid harming her baby.
"In all probability it was at that time that she made up her mind to poison herself, but, as most likely she did not want to kill her child also, she put it off till after her confinement."
The revelation of the magistrates personal connection
The magistrate strongly denied this possibility, insisting his wife had truly forgiven him. He defended himself, claiming his infidelity wasn't serious—he had been somewhat intoxicated and his wife was pregnant, so he had a brief encounter with an unattractive woman who was staying for three days. He maintained that his wife had forgiven the incident and it was never mentioned again.
Throughout the inquest, the doctor's theory troubled the magistrate. He asked if there were poisons that could kill gradually without pain in about fifteen minutes. The doctor confirmed that such poisons existed, mentioning morphia as an example. The magistrate recalled that his wife had kept something similar but dismissed the possibility.
The magistrates distress upon realizing the truth
After the inquest, the magistrate appeared exhausted. He suggested they walk for a while, and after about a hundred paces, he stopped and looked at the doctor with strange eyes. With evident distress, he suddenly confessed that the story he had told was about his own wife and himself.
"What I have told you was about my own wife, about myself. Oh, my God! I was to blame, I wounded her, but can it have been easier to die than to forgive? That's typical feminine logic—cruel, merciless logic."
The magistrate was overwhelmed with the realization that his wife might have poisoned herself to punish him for his infidelity. He clutched his head in despair, questioning if her sin was so great that she couldn't forgive him. He recognized her cruelty in choosing death over forgiveness.
The doctor's theory had completely shattered the magistrate. When they returned to town, he declined the doctor's dinner invitation, despite having promised to dine with him the previous evening. The revelation had poisoned his mind, leaving him distracted and broken in body and soul.