Short Fiction · Chapter
III explained
Spring arrives, but Groholsky remains fixated on Liza, who grows increasingly miserable and longs for her former life.
What happens
Spring arrives, but Groholsky remains fixated on Liza, who grows increasingly miserable and longs for her former life. Bugrov visits, and Groholsky overhears a secret rendezvous where Liza and Bugrov express regret over their separation. Groholsky confronts Bugrov and gives him an estate to leave. Liza is devastated by Bugrov's departure, falls into hysterics, and eventually runs away. Groholsky wastes away, goes abroad, drinks, and loses his fortune. Years later, the narrator visits Bugrov's estate to find Bugrov and Liza well-fed and living comfortably, while Groholsky, now unkempt and subservient, plays the guitar for them.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Marriage
Explores the destructive triangle of Groholsky, Liza, and Bugrov, where love is entangled with possession, regret, and financial transactions.
Hypocrisy and Moral Failure
Bugrov sells his wife for money yet later laments his loss; Groholsky believes he can buy love; both men act selfishly while claiming moral justifications.
Suffering and Compassion
All three characters suffer—Groholsky from unrequited obsession, Liza from depression, Bugrov from guilt—yet the narrator's final pity for Groholsky highlights the tragedy of wasted lives.
Characters to notice
- Groholsky
Obsessed with Liza, overhears her secret meeting with Bugrov, gives away his estate to send Bugrov away, later becomes a shadowy figure pining for Liza, and ends up living with the Bugrovs as a broken man.
- Liza
Grows increasingly depressed in her life with Groholsky, secretly meets Bugrov, is devastated when Bugrov leaves, eventually runs away to him, and later appears well-fed and content as Bugrov's wife.
- Bugrov
Visits Liza secretly, expresses regret for selling her, accepts Groholsky's estate to leave, and later lives comfortably with Liza, having grown stout and prosperous.
Key passages
“Groholsky was still living in the same villa. His hopes and desires, small and unexacting, were still concentrated on the same Liza, on her alone, and on nothing else!”
Groholsky remains fixated solely on Liza, with no other ambitions or interests.
Highlights his obsessive and stagnant devotion.
“There was a worm gnawing at her vitals. That worm was misery.”
Liza is consumed by a deep, persistent unhappiness.
Metaphor for her emotional suffering.
“Don't fear the dog that barks, but fear the dog that's quiet.”
Be wary of silent threats rather than obvious ones.
Proverb foreshadowing Bugrov's quiet betrayal.
“I have seen and heard it all... It's not honourable on your part, but I do not blame you.”
Groholsky confronts Bugrov after witnessing the secret meeting, but refrains from direct accusation.
Shows Groholsky's passive and self-sacrificing nature.
“Men do not die of happiness, nor do they die of misery. Groholsky's hair went grey, but he did not die: he is alive to this day.”
Extreme emotions do not kill; Groholsky survives his heartbreak but is permanently changed.
Reflects the theme of enduring suffering without resolution.