PEASANT WIVES

In the village of Reybuzh, the story unfolds around the household of Filip Ivanov Kashin, known as Dyudya, who has accumulated a modest fortune through various ventures. His family consists of his elder son Fyodor, whose wife Sofya lives with them, suffering constant ailments; and his hunchback son Alyoshka, married to Varvara, a young and attractive woman chosen for him who draws the attentions of their guests. One evening, they receive a visitor, Matvey Savitch, with an orphan boy, Kuzka, whom he has adopted. Savitch shares a complicated story from his past involving his neighbors, the Kapluntsevs.

The tale centers on Vasya Kapluntsev, his wife Mashenka, and the tragic unraveling of their lives due to infidelity and ill fate. Vasya, sent away as a conscript, leaves Mashenka, who falls into an affair with Savitch. Upon Vasya’s return, his discovery of the affair devastates him, ultimately leading to his death by poisoning, believed to be at Mashenka’s hand. She is tried and sentenced to hard labor in Siberia, where she dies of fever. Kuzka, their son, ends up orphaned and is taken in by Savitch.

The story inspires various emotions among the listeners, touching on themes of sin, repentance, and the harsh realities of peasant life. Varvara expresses her dissatisfaction with her own life and despises her marriage to Alyoshka, fantasizing about freedom from her circumstances through extreme measures. Sovya, on the other hand, reflects on her own misfortunes and the tough lot of women in their society. As morning comes, the household returns to the routines of peasant life, with each character carrying the weight of their stories and the complexities of their existence in the Russian countryside. The chapter paints a vivid picture of the struggle, resilience, and, at times, the despair of peasant life, underscored by the moral and religious underpinnings that govern their actions and judgments.