The stories of Anton Chekhov mark a focal moment in European fiction. This is the point where 19th realist caucus of the short stories started their transformation into modern form. As such, his work straddles two traditions. The first is that of the anti-romantic realism which has a sharp observation of external social detail. It has human behavior conveyed within tight plot. The second is the modern psychological realism in which the action in typically internal and expressed in associative narrative that is built on epiphanic moments. In consideration of the two sides, Chekhov developed powerful personal styles that presage modernism without losing traditional frills of the form. This essay will discuss the Chekhov's portrayal of women.
Chekhov in The Name-Day Party focuses on Olga and her relationship with her husband, Chekhov appreciation for women is portrayed (Finke, 2005). Chekhov’s work maintains a continuity of appreciation for the endurance and humaneness of women in the face of afflicted and patriarchal prejudice that fits in this feminist-oriented era. Chekhov, though not liberal or conservative politically have rejected all theories that generalize about life. Chekhov instead has put his faith in the people. On another case, the central female characters in The Lady with the Dog have been portrayed in comparable manner. Dmitri’s wife and Anna are portrayed in same light. They are both observable as stupid, shallow and lacking education and knowledge of a male. Nilsson (2006) indicates that through this characterization of the women in the story, Chekhov paints a very clear and dramatic portrayal of how women were viewed in nineteenth century. Nilsson (2006) also notes that this view makes broader implications to 19th century society.
At some occasions, Chekhov jogs with the readers’ sympathy. The story, Anna around the Neck portrays a young woman from an impecunious family is pushed into a loveless matrimony with a portentous, middle-aged, well off bureaucrat. To begin with, all the compassion is enlisted on behalf of the young woman, who is portrayed to sacrifice her self on behalf of the entire family. Nonetheless, Chekhov changes everything. The young woman being beautiful and charming turns out to be a hit in high society and favorable among those the husband toadies himself. When the young woman realizes her power, she starts to take control. She is now in a position to tell her husband to get off, later she becomes a darling of the high society. She cuts off from her family who remain as poor are before. Chekhov does not state anything about the incident; however, the reader sympathies are very confused by the end of the story.
Arguably, the grasping or rapacious woman, or the shallow, stupid woman is portrayed frequently in Chekhov’s stories. Another example is The Party; Chekhov’s principal character in the story is the pregnant woman who become increasingly frustrated by boorishness and the insensitivity of the party guests and her husband. The woman gets a breakdown which results to a miscarriage. In another story, The Fiancée a lady ends an engagement with a wealthy man to join college and add on to her education. In this story, Chekhov is shown to be more interested in depicting truth about people instead of promoting an ideology (Corrigan, 2009).
In Chekhov’s most moving work, A Woman’s Kingdom, he exposes absolute isolation of a young lady who inherited a factory. She is cognizant of appalling exploitation in the factory, and the awful living standards of its workers. However, she has absolutely no idea of how to go about correcting the situation. She has no knowledge of how the factory is run and has to depend on various people who she knows are lying to her. The factory destroys the young woman morally and spiritually and also destroys the workers bodily. Chekhov’s attitude in his works is portrayed to be more sympathetic on women than men. Mostly likely it is because women suffer more in the patriarchal society compared to men (Clayton & Meerzon, 2013). Clayton and Meerzon, (2013) note that this has been reflected in the initial story of Olga, a woman hemmed in from all directions by forces that hinder her from living as a free person. Her duty of smiling and talking continuously, the clank of the dishes, the inanity of servants, intervals between course and prolonged stays she endures to conceal her pregnancy from guests wearied her to exhaustion.
Conclusively, there are numerous Chekhov’s stories of varied brilliance which makes is complicated to make general statement about them. In Chekhov’s stories, he puts his faith in individual women. Chekhov eschews ideologies which have grown shriller as social, political, and economic conditions deteriorate in the declining g nation at the turn of the nineteenth century. Chekhov refers to his era as dull, sour, and flabby and like the rest of his generation had no goals on leading his readers. Chekhov and Garnett (2011) indicated that Chekhov believed that man will improve when you show him what he is like – how he mistreats women.
References
Chekhov, A. & Garnett, C. (2011). The Wife and other short stories. Auckland: Floating Press
Clayton, J. & Meerzon, Y. (2013). Adapting Chekhov: the text and its mutations. New York: Routledge.
Corrigan Y. (2009). Čechov and the Foundations of Symbolism Original Research Article. Russian Literature, Volume 66, Issue 2, Pages 165-188
Finke, M. (2005). Seeing Chekhov: life and art. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Nilsson N. (2006).The Reception of Strindberg in Russia: The Introductory Years Original Research Article. Russian Literature, Volume 40, Issue 3, Pages 231-254
