We offer you a brief summary of “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk County” - an essay by N. Leskov, first published in 1864. At the beginning of the story, the author notes that sometimes one can meet a character that even after a while cannot be remembered without emotional excitement. These include the heroine of the work, which was given such a nickname after the tragic events that happened to her.
main character
Katerina Lvovna, the wife of the merchant Izmailov, was a pleasant woman of twenty-three years. She was married to a fifty-year-old but well-to-do Zinovy ​​Borisovich because of poverty. There was still an old father-in-law, Boris Timofeevich, in the new family. The husband was already married, but had no children - with Katerina Lvovna they had already lived for five years.
The Izmailovs kept the mill, and the head of the family was rarely at home. His wife suffered from loneliness. I didn’t like to visit, because I was brought up in a simple family and got used to freedom, but here everyone watched her behavior. Depressed and reproaches of childlessness. So lived the future "Lady Macbeth" Leskova.
In brief, it should be said that the father-in-law and husband got up early, drank tea and went away on business. And Katerina Lvovna was wandering around the house and yawning. If he falls asleep for an hour, then after the same boredom from which he wanted to strangle himself. This continued until the dam was broken. There was a lot of work at the mill, and Zinovy ​​Borisovich did not appear at home for a long time. At first, the wife was bored, but she soon felt freer - she never loved her husband and never felt attachment to him. Since that time, changes began in the fate of the heroine.
Acquaintance and love affair with the clerk: a brief summary
"Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" continues with a description of the meeting with Sergey. Once the hostess decided to go out into the courtyard, where she heard laughter. It turned out that here they decided to weigh the cook Axinho. A handsome young man merrily entered into a conversation. And then he fulfilled the desire of the hostess to find out her weight, saying: "Three pounds." And he added that you can wear it all day in your arms and you won’t get tired. The woman felt the fun and decided to continue the conversation, which ended with Sergei hugging her. The reddened mistress came out of the barn and asked Aksinya whether this fellow had been serving them for a long time. It turned out that Sergei was driven out by the former owner for a relationship with his wife.
And one evening - the husband was still not returning - the clerk knocked on the door of Katerina Lvovna. First he asked for a book, then he began to complain about boredom. Finally, he emboldened and embraced the frightened mistress. Since then, Sergei spent all nights in Katerina Lvovna’s bedroom.
First crime: summary
“Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk County” Leskov wrote on the basis of real events: the daughter-in-law poured boiling sealing wax into the old man’s ear, which made him die.
Katerina Lvovna had to lurk for a short time. A week later, Boris Timofeevich saw through the window how someone was going down the pipe from the window of his daughter-in-law. Having jumped out, he grabbed the clerk by the legs, unfastened his order and locked him in the pantry. Having learned about this, the daughter-in-law began to ask that the old man let Sergey go. However, having heard the threats, she made a decision. By the morning of Boris Timofeevich died: he ate on the eve of the mushrooms cooked by the hostess, and was poisoned. And his death was the same as that of poisoned rats. The story with mushrooms was common, so the old man was buried without waiting for his son - he left the mill for business somewhere. The young mistress and her lover again healed quietly.
Way to happiness
One crime often entails another. This will be described in summary of "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk".
The next victim was Zinovy ​​Borisovich. Heard about the fornication of his wife (Katerina Lvovna did not hide her connection with the clerk), he arrived at night, unnoticed by anyone. The young woman, who could no longer imagine life without a lover, made a second desperate decision. The hostess Sergey pushed him, repeatedly repeating that if he was a merchant, their relationship would become equal. On the night of his return, the deceived husband was brutally murdered by his lovers and buried in a cellar.
Traces of blood in the house washed away. The coachman, who brought Zinovy ​​Borisovich that evening, said that he had brought the merchant to the bridge - he then wished to go on foot. As a result, the mysterious disappearance of Izmailov was announced, and his widow gained the right to manage property and was expecting a child.
Summary of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk County is another crime story. A few months later they learned that Izmailov had another heir - a minor nephew. And soon, a cousin of Boris Timofeevich brought Fedya to a relative's house. And again Sergey began to repeat that now it is necessary to share the inheritance, and a decrease in capital will affect their happiness. And Katerina Lvovna, who was soon to become a mother herself, decided on yet another murder. But just failed to hide it.
Parishioners, gathered for Vespers in the Izmaylovskaya Church, talked about the mistress and her lover. The most curious people saw a narrow gap in the window of the room where the sick boy was lying, and decided to spy on what was being done there. This happened at the very moment when Sergey was holding Fedya, and Katerina Lvovna covered his face with a pillow. The whole district came running to screams. And soon the clerk also told about the murder of the merchant, who was immediately removed from the cellar.
On the way to Siberia
A summary of the book Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk County concludes with a description of the last weeks of the heroine’s life. She left the child as an heir to a relative of her husband. She herself was carved together with Sergey and sentenced to hard labor. But the woman was already pleased by the fact that her lover was in the same party with her. She gave small jewelry and money taken out of the house to the guards and received short dates, although she began to notice that Sergei had cooled down to her. The point in the relationship was put by new friends.
In Nizhny Novgorod, they were joined by a party from Moscow, in which Fiona and the young Sonetka were hunting men. From the first, Katerina Lvovna found Sergey during one of her dates. But a serious relationship ensued between the clerk and Sonnet. It soon came to the point that Sergey began to openly mock Izmailova and said that he had never loved her. And now, when Katerina Lvovna is no longer a merchant, he doesn’t need her anymore.
When the party was loaded onto the ferry, the heroine, distraught from grief and humiliation, grabbed the opponent standing by her side and laughing at her and crossed overboard. It was not possible to save the women: Katerina Lvovna did not give Sonetka the opportunity to swim to the hook dropped into the water and drowned with her.