Chechov's USe of Grief

A detailed Summary of Chechov's USe of Grief

What is the fascination with grief and suffering that caused Anton Chekhov to entwine these two sad emotional states into everything he wrote? "Reading Anton Chekhov's stories, one feels oneself in a melancholy state. Everything is strange, sharp, lonely, motionless, helpless" (Nebraska 1). Further, according to William Gerharde, Chekhov answered this very question with the following: "When you depict sad or unlucky people, and want to touch the reader's heart, one should try to be cold- it gives their grief, as it were, a background, against which it stands out in greater relief" (Gerharde 110).

While Chekhov uses pain and suffering in all his stories, he does an especially effective job with two short stories "Misery" and "Vengeance." In both, Chekhov introduces a similar theme, although it is first suggested in "Misery": "The theme of the individual isolation is suggested in many of Chekhov's early stories, but it is first fully developed in the brief sketch 'Misery'," (Winner 137). While reading "Misery," the reader can absorb Chekhov through the twined themes of loneliness and isolationism. This enables characters to become so real that each reader can relate through the characters and the situati

Interestingly, "Vengeance" has a completely different kind of setting than the prior work "Misery," and yet, the reader is still left with the image of the protagonists' pain and suffering, as well as being able to relate to the reality of the situation. All seems well from the surface, "Turmanov, a worthy citizen who possessed a nice little fortune, a nice little wife, and a nice little bald spot of his head" (Tales,16). But sometimes, what seems to be true on the surface can at times be proven false. This is one of those cases. Chekhov ingeniously starts the story by making the reader believe that the protagonist, Turmanov, has everything going for him. When, in actuality, that is the farthest thing from the truth.

Hellman, Lillian. The Chekhov Papers. University of Pudget Sound, Dramaturgical Publication, 1996.

Another good example of Chekhov's use of pain and suffering is through another short piece "Vengeance." Chekhov is able to take the protagonist and make his life a living hell, yet at the end the protagonist prevails. "Chekhov was a writer who specialized in heroes of hopeless, gloomy, and futile variety, presumably to the exclusion of such as would be deemed success by their ability to get things done" (Gerharde 123). Because Chekhov was so successful in his ability to write about characters who live in such gloom and hopelessness, like Turmanov in "Vengeance," Chekhov cleverly made sure that although the character went through such heart-wrenching emotions, by the end of his stories' the main character had come out on top.

All in all, "Misery" demonstrates Chekhov's use of grief to tell his story.

In his state of melancholy, Potapov willingly drives people to their destinations hoping for a sympathetic word or gesture. But, no, not a single soul reaches out to him through his grief. Popatov in turn becomes even more disconsolate. "An individual seeking happiness is in a sense paralyzed in a decisive moment by weakness and indecision"(Winner 41). Upon his return home, therefore, he tries desperately to think of other things. Later, unable to sleep, he goes to the stable to check on his mare. "He thinks about oats, about hay, about the weather. . . He cannot think about his son when he is alone. . . To talk about him with someone is possible, but to think of him and picture him is insufferable anguish. . ." (Chekhov 373). Here in the stable, at last, he does find a being to listen to how upset he is over his son's death: Potapov unloads his burdened heart of sorrows by talking to his mare.

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Approximate Word count = 2238
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English