“The Witch”, a Short Story by A.P. Chekhov: The Codes of Traditional Culture

Chekhov A.P., was well familiar with the folk culture both because of the books he read when working on the thesis 'Healthcare in Russia' and personal impressions gained when living in Taganrog, in the South of Russia.He also addressed the folk demonology.Short story "The Witch" conveys the reflections of the southern Russian notions of witches which contain some specific regional features.They are, unlike the witches of the North, young beautiful women, who master and have control over the natural forces and disasters, practise love magic.The actual narrative description in the short story has a supportive folklore, superstitious background.Rassa Nilovna, the heroine of the short story is considered a witch by her husband, sexton Gykin.However, he himself is depicted possessing emphasized physiological infernal features -the fact Chekhov was criticised for by his contemporaries.Corporeal abnormalities, dirt and odour, unsociability, malice, glossolalia, slurred speech -these are the signs of inhuman, chthonic sphere.In folk culture, a woman cohabiting with a devil may become a witch.The dramatic fate of the heroine -an unloved, disgusting husband, the life in isolation -endows her both with angst, yearning and itch for love and the specific features of the folklore witch.However, being allies in the folk culture the witch and devil in Chekhov's short story are the antagonists and the image of snowstorm -war is projected onto the relationship between the husband and the wife.Chekhov, making the night and the snowstorm the artistic time and space of the short story and the travellers who lost their way and the hosts of an isolated hut -its characters, 'enters' the territory of the 'witch' text of the Slavic culture and creates the original work of literature.This novelty becomes obvious when the short story is considered in and within the ethno-cultural and literature contexts.