The Dowerless Girl (play)

The events of the play take place in a small provincial town on the Volga. Larisa Dmitrievna Ogudalova is a dreamy beauty, the daughter of a ruined noblewoman-widow and, of course, a penniless girl—she is hopelessly in love with Sergei Sergeevich Paratov, a striking shipowner and a wealthy gentleman. He is a cold, calculating man, devoid of principles: for a whim, he is capable of risking not only himself, but also someone else’s fate. For a while, Paratov returns Larisa’s feelings, but he has no intention of marrying a poor girl—and unexpectedly he vanishes, leaving.

It is the wounded Larisa whom Yuliy Kapitonovich Karandyshchev proposes to—a young, not very well-off official. Seeing no other way out, she agrees to the marriage. Larisa tries to see in Karandyshchev a kind and underrated by people person, but inwardly she looks down on him; for her, his main virtue is only his love for her. Karandyshchev truly loves Larisa, yet there is a touch of vanity in that feeling: marrying the first beauty in the town should heal his pride and become proof to those around that Larisa’s choice is deliberate and “by merit.”

The wedding is already close, preparations are in full swing—and it is at this very moment that Sergei Sergeevich Paratov returns…