In “The Darling”, Anton Chekhov pairs a critical narrator with a static, one-dimensional main character to make a point about women in 19th century Russian society. He portrays Olenka as a woman who acquires her self-identity and sense of self-worth by making her current husband’s ideas her own, and he uses a narrator who continually criticizes Olenka for not having a thought on her own. Chekhov implies that truly interesting women achieve social and intellectual equality to men. The story’s main character, Olenka, however, possesses enough beauty to attract many men yet loses them to fate.
Olenka acquires her self-identity and sense of self-worth by many making her current husband’s ideas as her own. Her naïve, repetitious cloning of thoughts jumps from man to man. Her first husband, Ivan Petrovitch or Kukin, was a manager at the open- aired theater called the Trivoli, and although Olenka handled the accounts and paid the wages she still fell victim to her mimic tendencies. “And what Kukin said about the theatre and the actors she repeated” (Chekhov 106). Allowed an additional opportunity from the author, to start again on her own, Olenka marries once more, this time, to Vassily Andreitch Pustovalo, a manager at Babakayev’s, a timber merchant. Yet again, she oversaw the accounts and books orders but opts to simply mirror her second husband’s behavior. “Her husband’s ideas were hers. If he thought the room was hot, or that business was slack, she thought the same.” (107) It seems as though in this relationship Olenka plunges deeper into a well of plagiaristic thoughts absent of autonomy. Once more, her husband passes away and Olenka is left alone, but before long she meets a married man, Smirnin, a veterinary surgeon....
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... and presents them as stupid, boring, unwitty, plain, and worst of all, unopinioned. Olenka was beautiful, what an extraordinary beauty to have, given every opportunity to advance herself as an individual. She came from an educated family, her husbands allowed her the rare freedom to run their companies, yet she choose to do nothing with her talents and just collect their thoughts. This static character refuses complexity and rejects all opportunity to grow. “The Darling”, transformed from a fable to a social statement about the Russian woman during the 1900’s. Through the use of narration, Chekov, cleverly suggests that woman should be something more, robust with depth. A woman with confidence, self worth, and intellect fortify a woman as her youth fades. It’s possible that Chekhov believed, that women should be something more than just, “darling”.
Before the Beckettian "waiting" there was the continuous "waiting" of the three sisters who never lived in Moscow. Chekhov developed an aesthetic principle, according to which tragic and comic are not separated by an impassable wall but represent two sides of the same phenomenon of life, which can be viewed both in terms of tragedy and in terms of comedy. Thesis statement Gurov embodies the power of change that true love can have even on the most cynical characters. He is an island of hope in an ocean of turmoil represented by revolutionary Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. The following paper will focus on one of the most characteristic types of work for Chekhov: “The Lady and the Pet Dog”.
The story of In "The Death of Ivan Ilych", was written by Leo Tolstoy around who examines the life of a man, Ivan Ilyich, who would seem to have lived an exemplary life with moderate wealth, high station, and family. By story's end, however, Ivan's life will be shown to be devoid of passion -- a life of duties, responsibilities, respect, work, and cold objectivity to everything and everyone around Ivan. It is not until Ivan is on his death bed in his final moments that he realizes that materialism had brought to his life only envy, possessiveness, and non-generosity and that the personal relationships we forge are more important than who we are or what we own.
This story mostly takes place in a vacation spot called Yalta. Throughout the whole story Yalta is explained as peaceful, romantic and with magical surroundings. The weather is warm and the scenery consists of white clouds over the mountaintops. The flowers smell of sweat fragrance and there is a gold streak from the moon on the sea. The two main character’s Gurov and Anna visit this vacation spot to get away from the lives that they are unhappy with. Both are unhappily married. The author explains Gurov as a women’s man, women are always attracted to him. However he thinks of women as the lower race. Knowing that women liked him, he always just played the game. He was always unfaithful to his wife. When he sees’s Anna walking around in Yalta with her dog he thought of it as just another fling. The character Anna is a good honest woman. When she is unfaithful to her husband for the first time she starts to cry to Gurov. She explains how she despises herself for being a low woman. This was the first time a person was not happy with Gurov. The soon realizes that she is unlike other women and describes her as strange and inappropriate. The story then takes a twist and Anna is to return home to her husband who is ill. This was their excuse that they need to part ways forever and stop this affair. Yet when Gurov returned home to Moscow he found himself lost without her. The
Gurov is at the age of forty, he has a daughter at the age of twelve and also two other sons. By this time in most adults’ life they grow up. A man of this age most of the time is working on his career or focusing on his family. This is the complete opposite of Gurov. Gurov starts out in this short story as a lying, cheating, and heartless guy. When it was his time to marry he was very young and irresponsible about it, he marries a lady that he does not fall in love with. She will never truly make him happy. As a getaway from his unhappiness Gurov constantly cheats on his wife with various other girls. Not only does he cheat, but he feels nothing for these women. Gurov uses these women for the satisfaction to please his self and does not have any respect for women in general. Gurov refers to women as “the l...
The memoir gives a unique perspective of the noblewoman in this period of Russian society. A male-centered society made it difficult for women to shape and control their lives, however it was possible through means of gaining respect. The society respected woman who had a virtuous demeanor. Especially, those who lived with an immoral spouse and still were able to show virtuous characteristics. Anna is able to gain the respect of people higher in authority than her husband receiving special treatment for various requests. Through her marriage, she recognizes that her husband has rights that she doesn’t have in shaping and controlling her life privately and especially publicly. This society causes for women to depend on men completely.
The purpose of this research paper is to discover why Taras Shevchenko uses of women in his poetry. Along with the poem “Kateryna”, women are used quite heavily by the author. The women in his poetry appear to symbolize the czarist imposition of serfdom in the Ukraine. The irony was written when his own freedom was purchased by a friend. Women are usually seen as becoming impregnated by Moscals and then abandon by their impregnators. Shevchenko desire is to reveal how the czars imprison the Ukrainian people just as women are put into a prison by the seduction of the soldiers from Moscow.
In every rags to riches story, the protagonist eventually must decide whether it is better to continue to associate with impoverished loved ones from the past, or whether he or she should instead abandon former relationships and enjoy all that the life of fame and fortune has to offer. Anton Chekhov gives his readers a snapshot of a young woman in such a scenario in his short story Anna Round the Neck. While this story certainly gives a glimpse of the social climate in Russia during the nineteenth century, its primary focus is the transformation of Anyuta (Anna) Leontyich from a meek, formerly impoverished newlywed into a free-spirited, self-confident noblewoman. Throughout the story, the reader is drawn to pity Anna’s situation, but at the
Chekhov reminds the readers that Anna is young compared to Gurov. Chekhov’s novel states, “As he went to bed he reminded himself that only a short time ago she had been a schoolgirl, like his own daughter” (3). The images of Anna being a schoolgirl not too long ago, when Gurov has a daughter of similar age, brings the sense of abnormality between the relationship of Gurov and Anna. It’s hard to imagine such a huge difference in lovers especially in the strict culture of Russia in the late 19th century where these occasions were unthought-of. The uncomforting thought of the difference in age goes back to differ the meanings of love and romance in the novel because against all odds and differences, Anna and Gurov hide away from these obvious facts. The thought of love in this culture is between a man and woman of similar age. According to Chekhov’s novel, “He was sick of his children, sick of the bank, felt not the slightest desire to go anywhere or talk about anything” (9). Chekhov’s description of sickness reveals that Gurov has a huge moment of denial, denial of family and denial of age. This denial of age, helps Gurov cope with the oddities of their relationship, the oddities of the love they had with the characteristics of a romance. Gurov was trying to change the definition of their relationship on his own mental terms. While Gurov was trying to bring out a spontaneous, younger
In The Darling, Anton Chekhov tells the story of Olga Semyonovna, a woman who is empty without love in her life. Olga is widowed twice, takes a lover who leaves her, and eventually focuses on her old lover's child as the object of her obsession. In all these relationships, she takes on the ideas and emotions of her companion. She smothers the boy, Sasha, with so much attention that he cries out in his sleep. Olga's capacity to love is infinite, but that love is a parasitical and debilitating one.
Fulford, Robert.“Surprised by love: Chekhov and ‘The Lady with the Dog’.” Queen’s Quarterly. n.d. Web. 17 November 2013.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy is a novel about love and marriage among the Russian aristocracy in the 1870s. Anna is young, beautiful woman married to a powerful government minister, Karenin. She falls in love with the elegant Count Vronsky and after becoming pregnant by him, leaves her husband Karenin and her son Seryozha to live with her lover. Despite the intervention of friends such as her brother Oblonsky, an adulterer himself, she is unable to obtain a divorce, and lives isolated from the society that once glorified her. As a man, Vronsky enjoys relative social freedom, which causes Anna to have increasingly intense fits of jealousy. Because of her constant suspicion, she thinks that Vronsky’s love for her is dwindling. Their story is ended by an exciting finale that moves the reader.
First, the characters understand that their relationship is based on future aspirations and second, they have historical relationship disappointments. This third insight into the psychology of love supports the fact that many relationships and marriages often fail because of unrealistic expectations. Psychology research SHOWS that individual expectations for relationships actually sows the seeds of discontent. People are expected to provide not only provide safety, security and support, but also facilitate personal growth and freedom. Even though they come from an older period in history, Anna and Dmitri are stereotypical people who have unhappy pasts and hopeful futures. They are thrown into an intense relationship with limited mutual understanding. Chekhov’s limited dialogue and straightforward narrative leaves plenty of cognitive room for readers to ruminate about their own experiences and how they relate to the
An article from the Library of Congress states, “Russian women did not enjoy the same position as men in society or within the family” (Curtis). In the 19th century, Russian men were dominant in the society over their female counterparts. In fact, it was not just social values that were held by the people. The patriarchy was codified into the law of Russia in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Russian legal code gave the husbands, or male head of the household, almost unlimited power to make decisions within the family (“Russian”). The wives were expected to obey their husbands every wish and demand without a say so. While Madam’s husband is dead by the time we are introduced to the character, one can still see the patriarchy involved. Gayev, Madam’s brother, seems to be the one to make the final decision for the family in the play and he is the one to go with Lopakhin to the auction of the cherry orchard, even though he has proved himself time and time again to be completely incompetent at doing business. Madam surely knows this and does not react as it has been conditioned in her to obey a male’s every
Larisa Guzeyeva’s portrayal of Larisa Ogudalov in A Cruel Romance is concordant with Ostrovsky’s own conception of the character in his original nineteenth century play. In order to enhance the audience’s percep...
The story “The Darling” by Anton Chekhov, illustrates a woman that is lonely, insecure, and lacking wholeness of oneself without a man in her life. This woman, Olenka, nicknamed “Darling” is compassionate, gentle and sentimental. Olenka is portrayed for being conventional, a woman who is reliant, diligent, and idea less. Although, this story portrays that this woman, known as the Darling needs some sort of male to be emotionally dependant upon, it is as if she is a black widow, she is able to win affection, but without respect. Only able to find happiness through the refection of the beliefs of her lovers, she never evolves within the story.