Anton Chekhov’s Use of Grief in Misery and Vengeance Essay

In the poem “Hitcher”, Armitage examines the disappointments of the speaker who is about to lose his job and who is under pressure conforming to society’s expectations, and his frustration with life. Armitage portrays the theme of isolation using some lexical choices which carry negative connotations such as “tired”, “fired”, “under the weather”, emphasizing the amount of pain he suffers from being threatened with losing his job and not having any purposes in life. Armitage adopts a defeated and frustrated tone to illustrate the frustration, isolation and anger which contribute to the speaker’s internal sufferings. The defeated, frustrated tone of the speaker in the poem is presented through a series of lexical choices which carry connotations of negative emotions. These words form a semantic field of frustrated emotions and the reason why the writer has done this is to try to suggest that the speaker is very disturbed and threatened. “I’d been tired” evokes sympathy from the readers. It is colloquial which underlines realism with a lack of imagery in the poem. “Under the weather” can be inferred as the speaker not feeling well. It doesn’t only mean that he doesn’t feel well in a physical way, it also implies that he mood is not very good, echoes with “I’d been tired” and “fired”. These aren’t convincing, though “weather” has an

The first example where Chekhov addresses human disappointment is through Masha’s hopeless view of life. Masha’s negative perception of life is exemplified by the fact that she always wears black. She claims to wear black because, “I am in mourning for my life. I am unhappy,” (105). Not only does this quote set the gloomy tone for the rest of the play, but it also unveils the first of examples of problematic love triangles: Masha loves Treplev, but Treplev loves Nina. Masha’s disappointment is also manifested by her constant drinking, acts meant to drown her reality away. Her misery eventually propels to the point where she reluctantly agrees to marry Medvedenko in order to distract herself from her obsession over Treplev. However, her marriage and even bearing of children does not seem to have any effect on her as she continues living infatuated with Treplev.

On the topic of setting, both articles agree that the setting of the Russian countryside and Alekhin’s estate gives the feeling of comfort, especially in contrast to Ivan’s moralistic story. The eNotes article describes the location as “sensuous” and states that Ivan’s story is intended to distract you from this setting. Power describes the setting with a more personal attachment in the Guardian article, as he immerses himself in the story and talks about wanting to “be given tea by the beautiful Pelageya” and “throw [himself] into the pond and swim in the rain, as Ivan does”. Power also uses a quote from Janet Malcolm to describe the feeling of the setting, stating that Chekhov "liked to contrast the harsh weather of God 's world with the kindlier climate of man 's shelters from

In The Death of Ivan Ilych Leo Tolstoy conveys the psychological importance of the last, pivotal scene through the use of diction, symbolism, irony. As Ivan Ilych suffers through his last moments on earth, Tolstoy narrates this man's struggle to evolve and to ultimately realize his life was not perfect. Using symbols Tolstoy creates a vivid image pertaining to a topic few people can even start to comprehend- the reexamination of one's life while on the brink of death. In using symbols and irony Tolstoy vividly conveys the manner in which Ilych views death as darkness unto his last moments of life when he finally admits imperfection.

Shukhov could not dwell on his past even if he wanted to due his situation in the camps. Little by little he forgot what life was outside of it. With spending 8 years in the labor camps, Shukhov had little to remind him what home looked like. “As time went by, he had less and less to remind him of the village of Temgenyovo and his cottage home. Life in the camp kept him on the go from getting-up time to lights-out. No time for brooding on the past” and “Since he’d been in the camps Shukhov had thought many a time of the food

We formed a special bond with Nabokov despite the difficulty of his prose. This went deeper than out identification with his themes. His novels are shaped around invisible trapdoors, sudden gaps that constantly pull the carpet from under the reader’s feet. They are filled with mistrust of what we call everyday reality, an acute sense of that reality’s fickleness and frailty (293).

The sections chosen are about illness, whether it be mental or physical. Throughout the piece the audience/readers are constantly reminded that someone is ill, whether it is Anna or Ivanov. This doesn’t necessarily mean this is what Chekhov wants us to interpret from the performance as there are many interpretations: for example, the play could be interpreted as being about hypocrisy, as most characters reinforce this with the words they speak to each other. Another interpretation may be the loss of vitality on Ivanov’s part; his deploring the loss of

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.

Anton Chekhov, born in Taganrog, Russia on January 17, 1860, was considered the father of the modern short story and modern play. In 1875, his father lost his business and was forced to leave to find work in Moscow in order to pay off his debt. Anton and his three younger siblings were left with their mother, Yevgeniya, after a while they lost their home and decided to move to Moscow to be with Chekhov’s father. Chekhov, who was left behind in Taganrog to finish his schooling, helped his family financially by tutoring children in Taganrog. He found work in a clothing warehouse until he finished his final exams. After school, he joined his family in Moscow, where he continued his studies in the medical field at the University of Moscow. Chekhov used his own experiences of living in Moscow in his short story “The Lady With the Dog”.

“Ivan Ilych's life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible (Tolstoy, 2008).” This is an accurate illustration of how Ivan ends up dying. But what if there was a healing environment that Ilych could’ve partaken in before it was too late? This essay will discuss and analyze the three concepts in relation to a “healing environment” and its reference to The Death of Ivan Ilych. One of the concepts perceived in a healing environment is The Seen Environment.

But it is also this spiritual deterritorialization that follows Nabokov throughout his life that makes his account of his life seem more artistic and disconnected, even if there is a profound emotional impact on the reader in the end. While some moments in his life might evoke sympathy, like his retelling of his father’s death, or make readers to take a side, such as the incident with Nesbit during his time in Cambridge, Nabokov keeps the reader at a distance by concealing his feelings in rhetoric. An example of this is the “short biography” (173) of his father. Using vivid details to describe his father, one can feel the spiritual resonance the experience had on Nabokov. “And behind it all there was yet a very special emotional abyss that I was

This enhances the feelings of remorse and shows how the speaker’s views of his childhood have changed with the passage of time. In the first stanza, the imagery focuses on the darkness and cold which filled the speaker’s home. By using lines like “put his clothes on in the blueblack cold” (2) and “I’d wake and hear the cold splintering” (6) the speaker shows how despondent his early view of his environment was. The imagery, however, changes from cold to warm as the poem continues, symbolizing a change in the speaker’s feelings for his father. The line “Speaking indifferently to him/ who had driven out the cold” (10-11) in the second stanza shows how the speaker recollects his childhood as an adult and illustrates how his feelings have changed towards his father through a better understanding of his actions. This contrast in imagery greatly adds to the understanding of the overall theme of the poem.

One of the themes of Tolstoy’s story of The Death of Ivan Ilych is detachment from life, considering that all material things can substitute the true meaning of life: compassion and care for others. “Everywhere in the novel, Tolstoy speaks of Iván Ilych's desire for propriety, decorous living, and pleasantness all while making this his first and most important priority. This motivation is a poor

Imagine a world without some of the most interesting short stories. Some of the most interesting short-story reads come from, or are based off of the father of short stories, Anton Chekhov. Although Anton Chekhov faced many problems throughout his life, he still managed to achieve great success. Some believe that these problems are what influenced his works the most. The events that impacted Chekhov’s writings the most were impoverish childhood conflicts, financial struggles between different classes, and experiences of poor island prisoners.

More so than that of most other comparably illustrious writers, a number of Vladimir Nabokov’s works beckon near polarizing discrepancies in interpretation and actual author intent amidst literary circles. In a letter to the editor of The New Yorker, he concedes to constructing systems “wherein a second (main) story is woven into, or placed behind, the superficial semitransparent one” (Dolinin). In practice, such an architectural premise is complicated further by his inclination to dabble in the metaphysical and occasionally, in the metafictional. Nabokov’s inclusion of meticulous description and word choice coupled with his reliance on unreliable narrators—in “Signs and Symbols,” “The Vane Sisters,” and “Details of a Sunset”-- permits him