Summary of Dostoevsky's Uncle's Dream in 2 minutes retelling the plot

Summary
Dostoevsky
Uncle's dream

Marya Alexandrovna wants to live widely and beautifully, but the only option to achieve her goal is her daughter’s wedding with a rich groom. This was precisely the reason when 2 years ago the mother spoke out against her daughter’s lover, who was just a teacher.

Zinaida meets a handsome and educated guy, but he was the son of a deacon. He receives a salary from the district school and believed that in the future he would be a famous poet. The mother forbade the girl to see him and did not want to hear anything about their marriage. But Zina still met with him. But somehow the young people quarreled, and the young man made public one of the girl’s love letters. Of course, a scandal is inevitable. Marya Alexandrovna will try to save her daughter’s reputation and gives money to her hanger-on so that she will choose this letter. The daughter's honor was saved. And the young man fell apart and drank tobacco and wine, he developed consumption and was dying. Zina is offended, but still helps his mother with money.

Mozglyakov proposes to Zina, but she refuses him. He moves to St. Petersburg. The Moskalevs also left the city. A year later, Zinaida gets married. Her husband is a general who holds the post of governor of a remote region, and she is the first lady. Mother and daughter shine in high society. And they accidentally recognize Mozglyakov, who came to their region.

The work teaches that there is no need to embellish reality, but to show everything as it is. And, of course, be humane towards each other and be able to forgive. Despite the fact that the story was written a long time ago, it remains relevant to this day. Nowadays you can find such stories all over the place. But the main thing remains not to lose your “human face”, soul and, of course, yourself as a person.

You can use this text for a reader's diary

Dostoevsky. All works

Poor people
White Nights
Demons
Brothers Karamazov
Eternal husband
Double
Uncle's dream
Yershalaim chapters in the novel The Master and Margarita
Notes from the House of the Dead
Notes from the Underground
Player
Idiot
Crocodile
Meek
The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor
Boy at Christ's Christmas tree
Boys
Netochka Nezvanova
Teenager
Crime and Punishment
The village of Stepanchikovo and its inhabitants
Bad joke
Raskolnikov's dream about a horse
Funny man's dream
Humiliated and insulted
Mistress
Epilogue of the novel Crime and Punishment

Summary of Dostoevsky's Uncle's Dream

One of the residents of the city of Mordasov was Marya Aleksandrovna Moskaleva.
She could even throw dust in her eyes and sternly wrap a person in a word, and she had the title of “First Lady” behind her. Some people didn’t like her, and some were simply afraid, but despite this, her influence was recognized. But her husband Afanasy Matveevich was simple and intimidated by his wife. He lives in the village, his life is measured, he takes a steam bath and drinks tea. Their family has an estate of 120 souls. Marya Alexandrovna wants to live widely and beautifully, but the only option to achieve her goal is her daughter’s wedding with a rich groom. This was precisely the reason when 2 years ago the mother spoke out against her daughter’s lover, who was just a teacher.

Summary – “Uncle’s Dream” Dostoevsky F.M.

Summary

“Uncle's Dream” Dostoevsky F.M.

Marya Aleksandrovna Moskaleva, thanks to her unsurpassed ability to show off, to “kill” her rival with a well-aimed word and clever gossip, is recognized as the “first lady” of the provincial town of Mordasov.
While hating and fearing, everyone, however, recognizes her influence. Her husband Afanasy Matveevich, simple-minded and extremely intimidated by his wife, once lost his job “due to inability and dementia” and lives alone in a “suburban village,” steaming in a bathhouse and drinking tea. The Moskalevs have only one hundred and twenty souls of estate; Marya Alexandrovna dreams of a brilliant life in “high society”, the only way to which is the profitable marriage of her twenty-three-year-old beautiful daughter Zina. Therefore, two years ago she sharply opposed the girl’s love for the modest teacher of her soon-to-die little brother. A handsome and educated young man was just the son of a sexton, received a penny salary at the district school, but considered himself a great poet with a great future. Zina, despite her mother’s refusal to allow them to marry, continued to see and correspond with Vasya. After some quarrel, a proud young man, in a fit of vengeance, handed over one of her love letters to the city gossips, which threatened a scandal. Saving her daughter's reputation, Marya Alexandrovna paid two hundred rubles to her hanger-on Nastasya Petrovna for stealing a letter from ill-wishers. Zina's "honor" was saved. Repentant Vasya, in despair, drank a mixture of tobacco and wine, which caused consumption. Now he is dying. All this time, the insulted Zina, however, is “tormented” and helps the patient’s mother with money. Not seeing a better match, the eldest Moskaleva is not averse to marrying her “overripe” daughter to twenty-five-year-old Pavel Aleksandrovich Mozglyakov. He has only one hundred and fifty souls and “a little empty in his head,” but “not bad manners,” excellent suits and “great hopes” for a place in St. Petersburg. Mozglyakov is “madly in love” and has already proposed. Indifferent to him, Zina does not answer with a final refusal, but asks for two weeks to think about it. The impatient young man, however, takes the opportunity to appear at the Moskalevs’ earlier. Hoping to please Marya Alexandrovna, who is vying for a role in society, he brings to her house the rich and noble Prince K., whom he had just “rescued” from a snowdrift during a traffic accident.

Seven years ago, K. spent six months in Mordasov’s “society,” winning over the ladies with his high-society courtesy and losing the rest of his fortune. Already without a penny, the prince suddenly received news of a new rich inheritance - the Dukhanovo estate near Mordasov with four thousand souls - and left for St. Petersburg to formalize it. Upon his quick return, without visiting the city, he settled permanently in Dukhanovo under the supervision of a certain Stepanida Matveevna, who manages the estate and does not allow relatives to visit the old man, including Mozglyakov, who is very distantly related to the prince, but calls him uncle. They say that other heirs wanted to take the feeble-minded prince under their guardianship and even place him in a madhouse. And so, thanks to a “happy” chance, six years later he was back with his “friends” in Mordasov.

This “God knows what kind of old man” is so “worn out” that “he is all made up of [...] pieces”: with a glass eye, false teeth, false hair, in a corset, with a prosthetic instead of one leg, with springs for straightening wrinkles and etc. Most of the day he sits at his toilet, dressed like a fashionable young man and reduces all conversations to love affairs. Already powerless, he maintains voluptuous habits, making compliments, admiring “forms,” “greedily lorning” “tempting” females. Always narrow-minded, in recent years he has completely lost his mind: he confuses people and circumstances, does not recognize acquaintances, and speaks nonsense. And yet Marya Alexandrovna is proud of his “aristocratic” society, which elevates her above other contenders for championship in the city. She flatters and feigns sympathy for the simple-minded and gentle old man.

As a joke, Mozglyakov invites Nastasya Petrovna to get married -

for a “half-dead man” to soon become a rich widow. But don't mind. However, the “idea” “caught fire... in the head” of the hostess herself. When Mozglyakov takes “uncle” away on visits, with an indispensable promise to return for dinner, Marya Alexandrovna begins a conversation with her daughter.

Zina, a girl of “stubborn romanticism” and “severe nobility”, at first flatly refuses “baseness”: “to marry […] a cripple in order to get his money out of him and then […] every hour to wish for his death.!” But the mother uses all her “brilliant” eloquence, the extraordinary art of seduction, now drawing poetic pictures of a trip to Spain, now feats of Christian charity towards a helpless old man, now the opportunity to use the prince’s money to cure her beloved Vasya and, having become a widow, to marry him . Zina, although with contempt, agrees. But the mother must take upon herself the “dirt” and “stench”. Now the main thing is the secret, so that the machinations of jealous ladies do not ruin the plan. Meanwhile, Nastasya Petrovna, who overheard them, offended by unflattering reviews about herself, decides to take revenge.

Soon Moskaleva learns about the “interception” of the prince by her rivals, who almost guessed her intentions. She rushes to the carriage and almost by force brings the old man back to her. After lunch, Mozglyakov conveniently gets ready for tea with his godfather. But on the threshold, Nastasya Petrovna secretly holds him and leads him to eavesdrop on the “comedy” of seduction.

There are three people in the “salon”: the old man, Zina and mother. She forces her daughter to sing a romance twice, which awakens passionate memories in the prince. Skillfully guided by the hostess, the tipsy and emotional bon vivant proposes to Zina. Satisfied, Marya Alexandrovna takes the “soaked” guest upstairs to “lie down.”

Shocked by the “treachery” of the Moskalevs, Mozglyakov runs to Zina and makes a scene for her. The girl arrogantly confronts her ex-groom. He is ready to take revenge, but Marya Alexandrovna, who arrives in time, “pacifies” him through the most sophisticated demagoguery. Mozglyakov leaves, confident in Zina’s love and a future brilliant life with her after the prince’s death.

Moskaleva decides to immediately take the old man to the village, where he will marry Zina. She is flying to pick up her husband, who is now needed for “representation” before the prince. Afanasy Matveevich receives strict instructions to remain silent and smile “sarcastically” in response to any questions. Upon returning to the city, Marya Alexandrovna finds uninvited guests in her “salon” - a dozen ladies exuding envy, anger and ridicule under feigned courtesy. Their goal is to thwart the mistress’s plans.

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Summary of Dostoevsky's Uncle's Dream for a Reader's Diary

The writer’s famous story was created in 1859 during a visit to the city of Semipalatinsk after a long creative break.

The work begins with an interesting plot that takes place in the city of Mordasov.

The heroine of the events, the evil and heartless lady Marya Aleksandrovna Moskaleva, was able to make a splash in the society of this small town. But this monotonous, uninteresting life does not suit her here. Marya Alexandrovna wants to get to the capital to find a profitable groom for her daughter.

However, Zina has a young man whom she loves, but he is not rich and is sick. Long after the quarrel, the young man decided to take revenge on the girl and gave Zina’s love letter to local boys to spread gossip about her. But her mother saved Zina from shame. She bribed her servant to steal the letter from her enemies. Distressed Vasily decided to poison himself, but nothing worked out for him. He acquired a fatal disease - consumption.

The girl wants to find means to treat him, and if she finds them, she gives them to the patient’s mother.

To hush up this incident, the elder Moskaleva found Zina a wealthy gentleman, Pavel Alexandrovich Mozglyakov. The young man is young, rich, and not a match for her daughter. The young man gladly confesses his love to the girl and offers her his hand and heart.

And in order to instill more confidence in the landowner’s house, he brings a noble but old prince, whom he helped in a traffic accident.

A certain prince, who squandered his fortune but won over local women with his manners, suddenly learns that he is receiving a new inheritance in Dukhanovo. He quickly leaves for St. Petersburg to complete the paperwork. After returning, he does not even visit Mozglyakov, who is a distant relative of him. He immediately settles on his estate.

Something told Maria Alexandrovna how she could become rich. And she thinks about marrying off her daughter to this old man, who may soon become a widow, and all the wealth will be in their hands. The mother praises Zina to the prince, and the old man, but not yet averse to chasing women, agrees.

But he cannot understand whether the conversations about marriage are actually happening, or whether he dreamed about it. He offers his hand and heart to Zinaida, and she agrees for the sake of selfish gain. Mozglyakov, having learned that the girl accepted his proposal, takes revenge on her. The nephew tells the uncle that he did not give any promise to the girl, and the prince agrees with him, since he is sick with dementia. He no longer needed any women at this age.

We see that all the heroes are captured by deception and falsehood.

The work teaches us so that we do not end up in such a nest of snakes, where everyone gossips behind their back, cheats and, in the end, ends up with nothing.

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