The Husband by Anton Chekhov. Short summary

5 seconds

The wife is happy, dancing at the ball. The husband is infuriated by her beautiful mood. To ruin it, her husband forces her to go home and enjoys humiliating the woman.

1 minute

A cavalry regiment stopped for one night in a small town. The town club threw a party and the ladies danced with the military.

Their husbands and fathers gathered at the buffet. They did not go into the hall, realizing how much they were losing to the slim and trim officers.

Among them was Kirill Petrovich Shalikov, a drunken and ugly collegiate assessor. He watched attentively as his wife, Anna Pavlovna, danced with the officer.

He felt no jealousy, but he felt extreme irritation, for it was impossible to play cards because of the dancing. But most of all he was annoyed by the expression of bliss on his wife’s face.

To spoil her mood, Kirill Petrovich calls his wife home. Anna Pavlovna asks to stay with him, but her husband threatens a scandal.

The woman cries, but he remains adamant. They go home, and her husband enjoys her humiliation and suffering.