The Captain's Daughter

Set during Pugachev's Rebellion of the 1770s, Russian writer Alexander Pushkin’s historical novel The Captain's Daughter (1836) tells the story of seventeen-year-old Pyotr Andreyich Grinyov who leaves home to join the Russian Imperial Army in its fight against insurgents. Over the years, The Captain's Daughter has been adapted to stage and the cinema.

In the years following the rise of Empress Catherine the Great as ruler of the Russian Empire, numerous insurgent rebellions broke out among the peasant class. It is against this backdrop that Pyotr Andreyich Grinyov is sent to join the Imperial Russian Army at the behest of his father, a retired Imperial officer. On his way to military training in the city of Orenburg, Pyotr loses his way during a terrible blizzard. Almost on the brink of death, a mysterious fellow traveler guides him back to the main road, saving Pyotr’s life. Before they part ways, Pyotr gives the man his hareskin coat as a token of thanks for leading him back to safety.

Shortly thereafter, Pyotr makes his way to Orenburg where he is promptly sent off to serve at the outpost Fort Belogorsky. When he arrives at Fort Belogorsky, Pyotr is surprised to see that it is hardly a fort but rather a tiny and poorly defended village surrounded by a pitiful fence, unlikely to keep out a committed enemy force. Though the fort's official commander is Captain Ivan Mironov, Pyotr quickly learns from Shvabrin, an officer he befriends not long after arriving, that Mironov's wife, Vasilisa, is truly the one in charge. Shvabrin is unhappy to be stationed at such a pitifully-fortified outpost but says he has no choice, having been banished to Fort Belogorsky after killing a man in a duel.



One night, Pyotr is invited to join the Mironov family for dinner. During the visit, Pyotr meets Ivan's daughter, Masha, and before long, the two are in love. Shvabrin is also in love with Masha, but she repeatedly rejects his romantic advances. Nevertheless, Shvabrin feels insulted by the affection between Masha and Pyotr, challenging Pyotr to a duel with swords. Vasilisa tries to put a stop to the duel, to no avail. In the end, Shvabin injures Pyotr with his sword but is stopped before he can kill his opponent. As Pyotr recovers, he asks Ivan for Masha's hand in marriage, but Ivan strongly refuses to give his consent.

The interpersonal drama is interrupted when the fortress is easily overrun by a peasant army led by Yemelyan Pugachev, a Yaik Cossack impersonating Peter III, who had been assassinated ten years earlier by supporters of his wife, Catherine. When Ivan refuses to bend the knee and swear fealty to Pugachev, he is hanged along with Vasilisa. Fearful that he might be next, the opportunistic Shvabrin defects to Pugachev's side. Before Pyotr even has a chance to choose sides, Shvabrin tells Pugachev to hang Pyotr next. Pugachev initially agrees but halts the execution after recognizing Pyotr as the young man he saved during the blizzard who gave him the hareskin coat as a token of gratitude.

Rather than executing him or forcing him to join his army, Pugachev sends Pyotr to Orenburg to deliver a message that Pugachev's troops are headed toward the city. After arriving in Orenburg, however, Pytor learns that the cruel Shvabrin has been left in charge of Fort Belogorsky. There, Shvabrin starves and humiliates Masha to coerce her to marry him. Outraged, Pyotr rides back to Fort Belogorsky to rescue his beloved Masha. Touched by Pyotr's affection for Masha and disgusted by Shvabrin's cruelty, Pugachev frees both Pyotr and Masha, allowing them to ride off to Pyotr's father's house. While en route, however, the pair encounters the Imperial army. In order to protect Masha, Pyotr sends her to his father's house alone and rejoins the army to avoid being tried as a deserter.



After the rebellion ends and Pugachev is defeated, Pyotr hopes to reunite with Masha. Unfortunately, a vengeful Shvabrin offers testimony painting Pyotr as a traitor for having collaborated with Pugachev. Rather than threaten Masha’s safety by asking her to testify, Pyotr resigns himself to his punishment. Although initially sentenced to death, Empress Catherine reduces his sentence to a lengthy prison stay.

While Masha is touched by Pyotr's insistence that she stay out of it, she cannot sit idly by while her beloved rots in prison. She travels to St. Petersburg where she petitions the Empress to release Pyotr. The Empress understands the mitigating circumstances surrounding the relationship between Pyotr and Pugachev and is touched by Masha's devotion to him. As a result, Pyotr is released, and he and Masha marry.

According to a retrospective review at The Irish Times, The Captain's Daughter is "a masterclass in storytelling" and "high art at its most effortless."