Short Fiction · Chapter
Martyrs explained
Lizotchka Kudrinsky, a young married woman, feigns a serious illness to gain attention and sympathy from her devoted husband Vassya and her admirers.
What happens
Lizotchka Kudrinsky, a young married woman, feigns a serious illness to gain attention and sympathy from her devoted husband Vassya and her admirers. She dramatizes her condition with theatrical flair, imagining her own death and funeral, while Vassya anxiously cares for her. After two sleepless nights, Lizotchka recovers and immediately leaves for a rehearsal, leaving her exhausted husband to return to work, where his chief sends him home.
Themes in this chapter
Hypocrisy and Moral Failure
Lizotchka's feigned illness and self-dramatization highlight the hypocrisy of using suffering for attention and manipulation.
Illusion vs. Reality
Lizotchka's vivid fantasy of her own death contrasts sharply with the mundane reality of her minor ailment and her husband's genuine exhaustion.
Characters to notice
Key passages
“Lizotchka draws a mental picture of her own death, how her mother, her husband, her cousin Varya with her husband, her relations, the admirers of her 'talent' press round her death bed, as she whispers her last farewell.”
Lizotchka imagines a dramatic deathbed scene surrounded by weeping family and admirers.
This illustrates her self-absorbed fantasy of martyrdom.
“Vassya does not go to the office, but sits all day at his wife’s feet. At midday the admirers of her talent arrive in a crowd.”
Vassya stays home to care for Lizotchka while her admirers visit.
Shows the contrast between genuine care and performative attention.