Ariadne

Ariadne by Anton Chekhov (1903)

Ivan Ilyitch Shamohin, a Moscow landowner, tells a fellow passenger aboard a steamer from Odessa to Sevastopol the story of his love for Ariadne Kotlovitch. Shamohin opens by claiming that Russians, unlike Germans or Englishmen, talk only of women and abstract subjects, because Russians idealize women and are perpetually disappointed by them. Shamohin's estate neighbors that of the Kotlovitches, a ruined family headed by Ariadne's brother, a flabby, apologetic spiritualist who dabbles in homeopathy and communicates with the spirit of his dead grandfather Ilarion. Ariadne, twenty-two, beautiful, graceful, and possessed of a "rare and beautiful name," has spent time in Moscow high society with a wealthy aunt. Shamohin falls hopelessly in love with her; his father and the local peasants all wish for the match. Ariadne is friendly and flattered by his devotion but is cold at heart, obsessed with visions of wealth, titles, balls, and ambassadors. She once refused a proposal from Prince Maktuev and regrets it. She tests her feelings by kissing Shamohin without love, which pains him. Mihail Ivanitch Lubkov, an amusing, perpetually indebted, unhappily married friend of Ariadne's brother, arrives and transforms the household's pastimes into picnics and extravagance. Lubkov openly advocates treating love as mere physical attraction and mocks Shamohin's reticence. Ariadne grows enchanted with the idea of Italy after Shamohin's father describes it, and Lubkov proposes joining her trip abroad. Ariadne's brother shows Shamohin a letter revealing Lubkov's endearments to Ariadne; devastated, Shamohin flees to the Caucasus without saying goodbye. Ariadne goes abroad, sending florid letters signed "your forsaken" and "your forgotten" Ariadne. Unable to bear the uncertainty, Shamohin joins her at Abbazzia, where he finds her and Lubkov posing as ordinary acquaintances, though their intimacy becomes obvious—separate floors notwithstanding, Lubkov borrows money from Shamohin repeatedly. They tour Venice, Bologna, Florence, and Rome in gluttonous, aesthetically indifferent luxury funded by Shamohin's father, who mortgages the estate to send money. In Rome, Lubkov complains to Shamohin about the costs of hiding his affair with Ariadne, finally confirming it. Sickened, Shamohin packs to leave; when he confronts Ariadne in her disordered room, she only says she wants him near because he is "so pure," and he departs in disgust and jealousy. Back home, Shamohin endures a lonely winter, visited by Ariadne's brother and by Prince Maktuev, who remains besotted with Ariadne and whose grandfather's spirit keeps prophesying she will be his wife. Come spring, Shamohin receives a letter from Ariadne in Rome claiming profound unhappiness and begging him to save her; he goes to her again. She now denounces Lubkov (gone to Russia for money) as loathsome and claims she never loved him. Shamohin becomes her lover at last, ecstatic briefly, but he soon perceives that she still doesn't love him—she simply fears solitude and wants to feel loved. Living together across Italy and Paris as supposed husband and wife, Ariadne proves deeply deceitful, vain, gluttonous, indolent, and cruel to servants, while claiming artistic talent she doesn't have. Shamohin's father continues sending money and mortgaging the estate at Shamohin's desperate requests. Shamohin grows disgusted with himself and with her, though he feels bound by honor to marry her once they return to Russia. They are now traveling back, ostensibly toward Yalta and the Caucasus rather than the family estate, as Ariadne pursues secret correspondence with her brother. Shamohin continues the conversation belowdecks, expounding a misogynist theory that educated urban women are regressing to a primitive, calculating state focused only on captivating men, and that only equal upbringing with boys could remedy this; the narrator, growing sleepy, mildly disputes him before falling asleep. At Yalta, the narrator later glimpses Ariadne—vain, affected, flirtatious with officers—and learns Prince Maktuev has arrived with Ariadne's brother. Shamohin, laden with gifts, is joyously hopeful that Ariadne will now take up with the prince, freeing him to return to his father and the land, and half-believingly credits grandfather Ilarion's spirit prophecy. The narrator leaves Yalta the next day and does not learn how Shamohin's story ends.

By Anton Chekhov · First published 1903 · Genre: Literary Fiction, Romance, Psychological Fiction · 12,330 words

First lines

On the deck of a steamer sailing from Odessa to Sevastopol, a rather good-looking gentleman, with a little round beard, came up to me to smoke, and said:

"Notice those Germans sitting near the shelter? Whenever Germans or Englishmen get together, they talk about the crops, the price of wool, or their personal affairs. But for some reason or other when we Russians get together we never discuss anything but women and abstract subjects -- but especially women."

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Russian Literature · Short Story · Psychological Insight · Character Study · Marriage · Infidelity · Social Class · Middle Class · Provincial Life · Isolation · Loneliness · Disillusionment

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