Marriage (1833-1835)

A merchant's daughter, Agafya Kuperdyagina, wants to get married. A matchmaker is hired to find a suitable groom. On the day of the viewing, everything goes awry and the bride is "confused" and unable to make up her mind. But, the difficult choice is made and the wedding day is set. However, before the altar, the groom begins to be tormented by doubts and runs away…

After the stunning success of Gogol's ‘The Government Inspector’, the play ‘The Marriage’ was dismissed and even called "empty". It was only in the era of modernism that the work was truly appreciated: then, the groom was seen not simply as an indecisive man, but as a man "torn between the fear of living and the fear of loneliness".

Translated by Constance Garnett, Publisher Chatto & Windus,1926