concept
Gentry French Affectation
gentry French
The habit among 19th-century Russian gentry (and those aspiring to their manners) of larding speech with French words and honorifics as a marker of refinement, even when addressing servants -- a recurring irony in the story's dialogue.
Reading notes
- The Lady of the Manor §16 Monsieur Rzhevetsky
Chekhov has the lady address her steward with the French honorific 'Monsieur' even in a peasant's yard -- a small marker of gentry affectation that recurs throughout the story.
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