Notice that, in spite of the fact that we are literary sophisticates, engaged in a deep reading of a Chekhov masterpiece, we feel the sudden appearance of Hanov to be a potential nineteenth-century Russian meet-cute: A lonely schoolteacher runs into a wealthy landowner, who, we feel, might transform her depressing life.
I spotted that possibility, but also that he might be a threat. Maybe he has ideas about what she should be teaching, or whether a woman is fit for the job.
