The Requiem (Chekhov)
Short summary
Russian village of Verhny Zaprudy, late 19th century. After a church service, shopkeeper Andrey Andreyitch remained behind for a requiem service for his deceased daughter Mariya.
Before the service, Father Grigory angrily confronted Andrey about a note he had submitted.
"For the rest of the soul of the servant of God, the harlot Mariya." "How dared you write it?" whispered the priest, and in his husky whisper there was a note of wrath and alarm.
Andrey defended himself, saying he meant to clarify that Mariya had been an actress, but the priest scolded him for judging his own daughter after death. The shopkeeper was ordered to make ten bows as penance before the requiem service began.
During the service, Andrey recalled how Mariya had grown up while he was a lackey, how she had become an actress in Moscow, and how she had visited him three years before her death. As the incense smoke rose toward the sunlight, it seemed as if Mariya's troubled soul was finally finding peace.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
Andrey Andreyitch in church and the controversial memorial note
In the village church of Verhny Zaprudy, as mass concluded, most worshippers filed out while Andrey Andreyitch, a local shopkeeper, remained standing with his elbows on the choir railing. He observed the familiar church interior with its saints, verger, and sacristan, but noticed something unusual: Father Grigory standing at the north door, angrily twitching his eyebrows and beckoning with his finger.
His fat and shaven face, covered with indentations left by pimples, expressed on this occasion two contradictory feelings: resignation in the face of inevitable destiny, and stupid, unbounded disdain for the smocks and striped kerchiefs passing by him.
Looking around, Andrey Andreyitch realized the church was empty and that the priest was summoning him. He hesitantly approached the altar, where Father Grigory confronted him about a memorial note he had submitted before the service. The note had requested prayers for "the rest of the soul of the servant of God, the harlot Mariya." This was Andrey Andreyitch's deceased daughter.
Father Grigorys admonishment and the shopkeepers justification
Father Grigory was outraged by the inappropriate word used in the note. He demanded to know how Andrey Andreyitch dared to write such a thing, especially about his own daughter. The shopkeeper stood bewildered, his face spreading in all directions like spilt dough from the shock of being addressed in such a tone by the priest.
When questioned about the unseemly word, Andrey Andreyitch attempted to justify himself by referencing religious forgiveness. He mentioned that the Lord had forgiven a harlot and cited the life of Saint Mariya of Egypt as precedent for using the term. Father Grigory grew even more indignant at this explanation.
"But you see God has forgiven her—do you understand? He has forgiven, but you judge her, you slander her, call her by an unseemly name, and whom! Your own deceased daughter!"
The shopkeeper tried to explain that his daughter had been an actress, but the priest insisted this was irrelevant now that she was dead. The deacon joined in from the altar, suggesting Andrey Andreyitch should do penance for being "so clever." The shopkeeper then clarified that he had only intended to specify his daughter's calling, as was customary in memorial notes, not to judge her.
"I only meant to speak spiritually... that it might be clearer to you for whom you were praying. They write in the memorial notes the various callings... I meant to do the same."
Father Grigory accepted this explanation but warned him not to be "oversubtle" in the future. He instructed Andrey Andreyitch to make ten bows as penance. The shopkeeper agreed and, relieved that the lecture was over, asked the priest to perform a requiem service for his daughter. Father Grigory approved of this request, and they agreed to begin immediately.
The requiem service and memories of Mashutkas childhood
Andrey Andreyitch took his place in the middle of the church with a solemn expression. The verger Matvey set a small table before him with memorial food, and the requiem service began. The church was silent except for the metallic click of the censer and slow singing. Besides Andrey Andreyitch, only Matvey, the midwife Makaryevna, and her one-armed son Mitka were present.
The sacristan sang in an unpleasant, hollow bass, but the mournful tune and words gradually eroded Andrey Andreyitch's dignified expression, replacing it with sadness. He thought about his daughter Mashutka and remembered her birth when he was still a lackey for the local landowner. He had barely noticed her growing up during his busy life as a servant.
He thought of his Mashutka... he remembered she had been born when he was still a lackey... In his busy life as a lackey he had not noticed how his girl had grown up. That long period... passed unnoticed by him.
The gentry had taught Mashutka to read, write, and dance. Andrey Andreyitch only occasionally met her at the gate or on the stairs, remembering she was his daughter and teaching her prayers and scripture when he had time. Despite his stern appearance, the girl listened attentively to his stories about Esau's pottage, the punishment of Sodom, and Joseph's troubles, opening her blue eyes wide with wonder.
Mashutkas final visit and her appreciation of her homeland
When Andrey Andreyitch left service and opened a shop in the village, Mashutka had gone to Moscow with his former master's family. Three years before her death, she visited her father. He barely recognized the graceful young woman with refined manners who stood before him. When he asked what she was doing, she boldly announced she was an actress, which shocked the former lackey as the height of cynicism.
When Andrey Andreyitch asked her what she was doing, she had announced, looking him boldly straight in the face: "I am an actress." Such frankness struck the former flunkey as the acme of cynicism.
Mashutka began boasting about her stage life, but seeing her father's reaction, she stopped. They spent two weeks together without speaking or looking at each other. Before leaving, she asked him to walk with her by the river. Though painful for him to be seen with an actress daughter, he agreed.
By the river, Mashutka expressed enthusiastic appreciation for her native place, calling the ravines and marshes lovely. She burst into tears, breathing deeply as if she felt she didn't have much time left. Andrey Andreyitch couldn't understand her enthusiasm, thinking the land merely took up space with no profit to be gained from it.
"What a lovely place you live in!" she said enthusiastically. "What ravines and marshes! Good heavens, how lovely my native place is!" And she had burst into tears... as though she felt she had not a long time left to breathe.
Now, during the requiem, Andrey Andreyitch shook his head like a bitten horse, trying to stifle these painful memories. He continued muttering prayers, unconsciously using the unseemly word again. As the service concluded, bluish smoke coiled up from the censer into a patch of sunlight, seeming to carry the soul of the dead woman upward, holding aloof from earthly woes and tribulations.
The coils of smoke like a child's curls eddied round and round, floating upwards to the window and, as it were, holding aloof from the woes and tribulations of which that poor soul was full.