A summary of Alexander Ostrovsky’s "Family Picture"

This book is the author’s very first completed dramatic work, written in 1846. Initially, the young writer conceived a long comedy, "The Petition." Later, he reworked the completed work into a one-act scene depicting the everyday life of Moscow merchants. Ostrovsky considered the day of the first public reading of this manuscript his personal initiation into professional writing.

Morning conversations

The action unfolds in a tastelessly furnished room in the home of merchant Antip Antipych Puzatov. Nineteen-year-old Marya Antipovna sits by the window, embroidering her embroidery frame. She quietly hums a song and laments her dull life within four walls. She complains of being constantly cooped up inside. She dreams of secretly asking for permission to attend the all-night vigil at the monastery with her sister-in-law, so she can then dress up and go for a walk in the park. Suddenly, Marya spots an officer walking down the street with a white feather. She calls for her brother’s wife, twenty-five-year-old Matryona Savishna.

The women hide behind the window frame and watch the passerby with interest. Matryona Savishna warns her sister-in-law against dating military men. She tells the old story of a local resident, Anna Markovna. This woman taught a young hussar to ride past her windows. Their courtship ended in an unpleasant scandal. The officer rode horseback right into the entryway of her house, disgracing the young woman throughout Moscow.

The maid, Darya, rushes into the room. She reports that she narrowly avoided meeting the master’s sixty-year-old mother, Stepanida Trofimovna. The maid delivers a message from the gentlemen, Ivan Petrovich and Vasily Gavrilych. The men invite the women to come to Ostankino that evening. They ask that they bring Madeira for drinking in the fresh air. Marya Antipovna agrees. Matryona Savishna orders the maid to confirm their arrival.

The maid quietly recounts a conversation she overheard between young people. Vasily Gavrilych cynically assessed the social status of women. A relationship with the married Matryona Savishna seemed commercially profitable to him, as he could obtain a luxurious raccoon fur coat from her in the winter. He called Marya Antipovna a poor burden. In his opinion, the girl would soon be forced into marriage with an unattractive, bearded merchant. The officer refused to marry her because of his own poverty. The conversation was interrupted by the noisy arrival of the master of the house.

Family tea party

Thirty-five-year-old merchant Antip Antipych Puzatov enters the room. He flirts with his wife and demands kisses. Matryona Savishna sends her maid for the samovar. The man sits down on the sofa, sighs, and playfully startles his wife by slamming his fist on the table.

Stepanida Trofimovna appears. The elderly woman grumbles about the sluggish maid, then turns her attention to her son. She reproaches Antip for constantly drinking tea and neglecting his business affairs. Puzatov dismisses the criticism. The man boasts that he cheated the merchant Bryukhov out of a thousand rubles the previous day. The mother lectures and recalls the old ways. According to her, decent people rose at four in the morning, looked after the household, and went to mass, while the current generation sleeps until eleven.

Stepanida Trofimovna criticizes her daughter-in-law for her lordly manners and reluctance to attend to household chores. She reminds Matryona of her true situation. The girl remains an ordinary bourgeois, no matter how many expensive clothes she buys. Matryona Savishna snaps back, declaring her high status as a legitimate merchant of the first guild (the highest rank of privileged traders). Antip defends his wife, claiming that her ample figure makes her look better than any noblewoman.

Choosing a Groom

The petty squabble subsides. Antip turns the conversation to his sister’s marriage. He jokingly suggests that Marya try a match with the local merchant Kosolapov or Perepyatkin. The girl is offended. She rejects the ridiculous suitors because of their foul odor and physical deformity. Stepanida Trofimovna reassures her daughter and promises to find a good match with a dowry. However, the old woman rejects the suitors of noblemen.

Stepanida Trofimovna explains her class hostility. Respectable noblemen seek brides with substantial fortunes of hundreds of thousands of rubles, while poor officials merely boast of their pedigree. The old woman cites the example of her daughter Lopatikha’s failed marriage. Her noble son-in-law drank away and gambled away his young wife’s entire dowry. Stepanida describes him as a petty, fussy man in a short tailcoat. Her mother insists that a noble husband will smoke his wife out or eat meat during Lent. Marya is embarrassed and runs out of the room after her daughter-in-law.

Left alone with her son, Stepanida Trofimovna gets down to business. She reports that a wealthy sixty-year-old merchant, Paramon Ferapontych Shiryalov, is seeking a young wife. Puzatov calls the old man a rogue, ready to ruin his own father. His mother defends her potential groom and emphasizes his piety. Shiryalov strictly observes the fasts and drinks tea only with honey. She considers deception in commerce a necessary norm. She smiles and utters the proverb: "If you don’t deceive, you won’t sell."

Trade scams

Antip subscribes to this commercial philosophy. He recalls how he profited from a recent deal with a German named Karl Ivanovich. Matryona Savishna picked up two thousand rubles worth of fabric at a foreign-owned fabric store. Puzatov simply refused to repay the three hundred rubles owed. The German began demanding payment and filed a complaint. Puzatov denied his obligations, drawing approving laughter from fellow market traders. Antip justifies his fraud by claiming that foreigners deliberately inflate prices.

Soon, Paramon Ferapontych Shiryalov himself enters the house. The guest complains at length of aching bones and acute lower back pain. He describes his radical treatment method. The old man visited the bathhouse, rubbed himself with cayenne pepper, and drank punch. This caused profuse sweating and temporarily alleviated the ailment. Stepanida Trofimovna pours the guest some fresh tea. The conversation gradually shifts to the merchant’s grave family problems.

An old man laments the dissolute behavior of his son, Senka. Paramon Ferapontych enrolled his heir in a respectable school, paying for a year’s tuition in advance. The young man ran away after three months. His home education also failed. The son took cash from his mother and caroused with his tutor in the seedy watering holes of Maryina Roshcha. Shiryalov complains of colossal losses. He had to pay a thousand rubles to an expensive tailor, and buying simple gloves cost three hundred rubles. The young man also owed four thousand rubles at the town tavern.

Shiryalov’s commercial experience

As proof of his personal business acumen, the old man laughingly recounts an instructive story about a visiting Armenian. This foreign merchant’s promissory notes (IOUs) for fifteen thousand rubles ended up in Shiryalov’s hands. Rumors of the debtor’s imminent bankruptcy spread through town. Shiryalov sold the risky securities to a provincial manufacturer for just twenty-five kopecks. His father’s financial acumen was not at all passed on to his son.

Shiryalov shares another success story. He decided to demonstrate to his salespeople the proper customer service process. An old man sold two wealthy ladies some old, stale fabric. He forced the customers to take the entire roll — about eighteen meters. The ladies paid two rubles per meter, even though the goods had previously cost mere pennies. The old man was afraid to unwrap the material for fear of discovering internal rot. The salespeople were stunned by their boss’s commercial audacity.

Despite his father’s income, the son continues to ruin the family. The old man learned of the purchase of an expensive shawl for a theater actress. Paramon Ferapontych fears future demands for sable coats, apartments, and thoroughbred horses. Antip advises that the young man marry quickly to an heiress with a rich dowry. Puzatov cites his own wild youth as an example. He caroused for weeks with the gypsies, and once, at a weaving mill in Preobrazhenskoye, he was nearly beaten to death. A successful marriage to Matryona brought the merchant to a more sober state.

Unexpected matchmaking

Shiryalov refuses to marry Senka. The old man fears the young man will squander his young wife’s dowry. Paramon Ferapontych announces his intention to place an advertisement in the official newspaper, publicly refusing to pay his son’s debts and revoking his power of attorney. To prevent the inheritance from going to a dissolute relative, the merchant decides to marry himself. He hopes to have another child to pass on his accumulated wealth.

Puzatov immediately suggests his sister Marya as a candidate. Shiryalov is initially incredulous at his luck, afraid he’ll seem too old and boring to the young woman. Antip assures his interlocutor that his advanced age won’t be a hindrance, and Stepanida Trofimovna values his character highly. The merchants discuss the potential groom’s behavior. Shiryalov swears he’s quiet when drunk, always falls asleep, and never hit his late wife. The delighted guest invites Antip to his home to continue the feast with drinks and loud factory songs.

Left alone, Puzatov muses aloud about Shiryalov’s senile cunning. Antip realizes the elderly guest is deliberately complaining about his son to justify his own whim. The bride’s brother considers the deal a profitable one. He plans to outwit Shiryalov regarding the dowry and not give away any extra money. The man puts on his hat and follows the old man.

At the end, the women return to the empty room, dressed in their finery. Matryona Savishna asks the maid about her master’s departure. Receiving an affirmative answer, she joyfully confirms that her husband has disappeared on a spree for the next three days. Marya Antipovna delightedly informs her daughter-in-law of permission to attend vespers at the distant Simonov Monastery. The women laugh in anticipation of their freedom and depart to enjoy themselves.