Reading Journal 2 : Subjectivity

Yoo Sun Sung / 111064 / 12v3

Mr. Garrioch

World Literature

February 27, 2013

 

Reading Journal: The Lady With the Dog

 

             "The Lady with the Dog" is another short story by Anton Chekhov. Considering that Chekhov is a realist writer, I felt how powerful and subjective one's point of view can be. Most of the students that I have talked with felt that The Lady with the Dog was romantic - not as in Romanticism, but as in love - even though the core theme was adultery. Dmitri Dmitrich and Anna

Sergeyevna both have their own wife and husband, but throughout the story they enjoy their secret affairs with each other. I cannot deny the fact that I too have felt that their love story was sweet and young as that of a newborn couple. This aroused a question: why do readers feel affectionate to Dmitri and Anna's story when most people in real life almost consider adultery as a sin to relationships? Probably because the story was in omniscient perspective focused on the inner emotions of the two protagonists.

             To see in the eyes of reality, the actions of Dmitri and Anna are quite unfavorable. Maybe I am accustomed to the social cultures and norms of the Korean society, where people consider marriage to be sacred and the relationship between a husband and a wife a serious responsibility on each other. Since the discussions were placed in Korea, I will assume that the students too are familiar with the Korean atmosphere. An middle-aged man almost in his forties and a young woman probably near in her twenties are having an affair almost every day even when they live far away. I wonder how many people would see with kind eyes about the relationship, especially when the man is known for hanging out with the club women. Still, no reader seriously taunts the Russian man and woman.

             Dmitri and Anna are not living in a world where adultery is acceptable; rather, it can be derived from Anna's frequent reactions throughout the story that the Russian society in "The Lady with the Dog" deems adultery as an unforgivable action. Anna clearly acknowledges this when she refers her as "vulgar, contemptible woman whom any one may despise." The world is as realistic as it could be, but the reactions of contemporary people are so different from what in real life. Clearly, people had substituted themselves into the positions of Dmitri and Anna and rationalized themselves that adultery is possible. Because Chekhov have successfully conveyed the emotions in the omniscient point of view, readers feel as if they are the ones involved in the adultery. They perceive reasons Dmitri and Anna justify as acceptable.

             Dmitri and Anna is well likely justifying adultery with the fact that they are "miserable" with their current marriage. Most descriptions about Dmitri's wife and Anna's husband are actually depicted in the perspectives of Anna and Dmitri. There are no clear depictions on the characteristics of the spouses, but only the hatred of the two adulterers. It would be hasty to define the spouses as the causes for making the miserable marriage life and unbearable enough for Dmitri and Anna to "reluctantly" have secret affairs, based on only the subjective emotions of the protagonists. Regardless of what seems to be a logical absence, people still sympathize with the two protagonists.

             Maybe if the story was written in the perspectives of Dmitri's wife and Anna's husband, the reactions of the readers would be different. They would sympathize with the spouses and show anger at the two guiltless adulterers having affairs despite the significant age difference. What would Dmitri's daughter feel when she realized that her father was going out secretly with a young woman similar of her age? Anton Chekhov have certainly succeeded in forming a protective shield around his two fictional characters by using their perspectives to move the audience.

             Or simply it could just be that the social norms are changing. The marriage could be no longer seen as an eternal relationship with heavy responsibilities. Maybe people pursue the feelings of love now more than the social stability. I do not have a clue. I only know that I too have felt sweetness in the love story of Dmitri and Anna more than repulsiveness.