A Tragedian in Spite of Himself by Anton Chekhov. Short summary

5 seconds

Tolkachov visits a friend. He is exhausted from work, errands from his wife, neighbors, and trips to the dacha. When the friend asks him to take things to his dacha neighbor, Tolkachov tries to kill him.

1 minute

His friend Tolkachov, laden with baskets and cartons, walks into Murashkin’s office. He sits down on the couch exhausted and asks his friend for a gun.

Tolkachov tells him about his hard life. Until four o’clock he works in the office. Then tired, running around the shops, doing errands for his wife, who lives in the cottage and her neighbors.

Then, laden with purchases, he goes to the dacha. There his wife drags him to a play, and at night he is kept awake by the mosquitoes and tenors with whom his wife is rehearsing.

In the morning, the man rushes to catch the train to get to work. This life makes him furious, and when he hears mosquitoes squeak or tenors sing, he has the urge to kill someone.

Murashkin sympathizes with his friend and asks him to take a hand sewing machine and a canary to his dacha neighbor. Enraged Tolkachov runs after his friend with the intention of killing him.