Epaminond Maksimovich Aplombov

Reading notes

• The Wedding §22 no Spinoza

  Aplombov's claim that he is "no Spinoza" -- invoking the philosopher's name as a byword for someone who thinks rather than dances -- is a self-important, slightly absurd flourish typical of his pretensions to being a serious "man of substance and character"; the joke is that dropping a philosopher's name to explain why one doesn't dance is itself faintly ridiculous.

• The Wedding §22 egotisticism

  "Эгоистицизм" is Aplombov's own garbled coinage (not a real Russian word) built on "эгоизм" ("egoism") with an extra pseudo-learned suffix, part of Chekhov's running joke about his character reaching for scientific-sounding vocabulary he doesn't quite command; the translation's "egotisticism" preserves the same invented, over-elaborated texture.

• The Wedding §158 an appraiser at the loan office

  "Ссудная касса" (a pawnshop/loan office) situates Aplombov's profession in the world of small consumer credit and pawned goods -- fitting, given that the dowry dispute that opens the play is precisely about pawned lottery bonds; Nyunin's reassurance that "even gentlewomen" work in such offices nowadays is a small class-anxious aside, forestalling any snobbery from the retired officer.

• The Wedding §236 General, and you carry on like this

  Aplombov's first open jab at Revunov-Karaulov (repeated more loudly at loc. 239) marks the turn from merely tiresome monologuing to active hostility; Revunov-Karaulov's next line ("Cutlets? No, haven't had any") shows he still hasn't even registered that he is being addressed with hostility, heightening the cruelty of what follows.

• The Wedding §246 you got a twenty-five through Andrei Andreevich

  "Четвертную" -- a colloquial term for a twenty-five-ruble note (from "четверть," a quarter, i.e. a quarter of a hundred) -- names the exact bribe Nyunin paid Revunov-Karaulov to attend and be addressed as "your excellency"; the sum is confirmed again at loc. 251 and becomes the play's central object of public accusation.

• The Wedding §251 twenty-five rubles

  Aplombov's blunt, repeated demand -- restating the exact sum a second time -- forces the deception into the open in front of the entire party; it is the moment the play's farce curdles, since Revunov-Karaulov (loc. 252) still has not understood what is being asked of him.