You’re so right about Chekhov understanding women!
And indeed I love his stuff till the endings. Probably because he was atheist.
Not saying an ending has to be “happy” for it to be Christian. Examples abound from Russian Lit. But Shakespeare’s tragedies come to mind in terms of ending “sadly” but with a Christian spirit. A sense of God and the afterlife, a final judgment — permeates his plays...
-likely why Chekhov, in his more blatant agnosticism, is considered one of the first truly modern writers.
Most literature it is hard to think of happy endings. Russia being cold and dismal for many and living conditions might have been prone to pessimism and melancholy. Although I note that their folk art and gatherings are filled with exuberance, very colorful. And they have beautiful lace curtains ;-). I pick up little factoids here and there but in the Russian schools in the winter, kids were given Vitamin D. We had milk in the earliest grades. Or sometimes ice cream ;-).
I never got into the Cherry Orchard, think there was one about Goosberries I liked, too, short story.
Somewhere I read about "holy babblers", people who had left the official church and still prayed to their corner icons in their homes. The author noted that once they left the fold, they didn't seem to fare too well. Might have been treated like outcasts.
Contrast that to the Mediterranean peoples in peacetime, especially the Italians. Tended to be bright and cheerier in the warm, sunny climate.
Your other insights are interesting and I would say valid. I quit reading literature so much, not sure why, quite some time before the internet. I've had more time to reflect and think more for myself, not that it is easy or I come up with anything worthwhile. It's something I need to do.
And I read very little Shakespeare, studied King Lear in English Lit in college. I know it was to my cultural detriment.