Without a Dowry
| Without a Dowry | |
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| Written by | Aleksandr Ostrovsky |
| Date premiered | 10 November 1878 |
| Place premiered | Maly Theatre in Moscow |
| Original language | Russian |
| Genre | Realistic drama |
Without a Dowry (Russian: Бесприданница) is a play by Alexander Ostrovsky that premiered on 22 November [O.S. 10 November] 1878 at the Maly Theater and first published in the January 1879 issue of Otechestvennye Zapiski. Met with indifference by the contemporary critics, later it came to be regarded as a classic of the Russian theatre.Yakov Protazanov directed a cinematic adaptation, Without Dowry, which was released in 1937, and Eldar Ryazanov also adapted it into a popular 1984 film.
In Bryakhimov, a "large city on the bank of the Volga River", after a hard, desperate year and devastated by the abrupt (and unexplained) end of her romance with a rich man (Paratov) with whom she was in love and almost worshipped, Larisa decides to marry the first man who approaches her. Karandyshev is a silly, obnoxious and vain person, but Larisa doesn't much care about that, wishing only to get away from it all and to live in the country. Suddenly, Paratov arrives and causes a stir both in the local community and in the girl's heart. It turns out he's about to marry a rich woman and now enjoys his last bachelor spree, selling ships he owns to get money to burn. He finds out Larisa still loves him and realizes that his own feelings for her are also still strong.
Karandyshev, just to show off, throws a party, inviting among others a young man Vozhevatov (Larisa's childhood friend), local millionaire Knurov (who'd earlier told Larisa's mother he'd be willing to become her daughter's 'sponsor' and take her to Paris should she feel inclined that way; the mother is quite receptive to the offer) and Paratov himself. Paratov, to punish Karandyshev for being impolite and to make Larisa see him for what he was, stages a kind of practical joke. Using his alcoholic actor friend's drinking prowess he makes the young man get drunk and make a fool of himself, prompting laugher and ridicule from the other guests. Leaving Karandyshev behind, Paratov, Knurov and Vozhevatov take Larisa out for an impromptu nightime picnic.
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