Thursday, August 4, 2011

8/04/2011 07:09:00 PM - , No comments

Heritage of Words - About Love

2) 
About Love

“About Love” is a famous and interesting love story written by Russian short story writer Anton Chekhov. In this story, the writer has proved that love is not bound with martial relation. The writer also claims that love is so strange and mysterious that whenever we have read and heard about love can’t solve the problem of love. Similarly, the writer has declared that love is not happiness. It becomes a source of dissatisfaction and irritation if we start reasoning about love.

In this story, Alyohin, a narrator is a main character. He is a graduated person but he chose to be busy in farming with his servants because his land was heavily mortgaged by his parents partly for his study. He was working and living his own land, a large state. One morning Alyohin was having breakfast with his friends (Burkin and Ivan). Alyohin told them about the love affairs first about his servants and then about his own.  In the story, the writer talks about expressed love of Nikanor and Palegeya and unexpressed love of Alyohin and Anna.

According to Alyohin, a cook Nikanor and maid Palegeya, are in love. Their love is an expressed, physical and romantic. Nikanor loves Palegeya and wants to marry her. However, he is a religious one, he drinks alcohol and beats her. Paleyega also loves him very much. Nevertheless, on contrary, she wants to live with him just so without marriage. Paleyega has western concept of love because she doesn’t want to marry Nikanor.

Then he tells his own love affair with a girl with whom he lived while he was studying in Moscow. He loved her but the girl would only think about the money that he would provide her for house keeping and for other purposes since their love was conditioned by money it can be categorized under material love, a selfish love.

At the same time while he was telling the love story of Nikanor and Paleyega and his own, he remembers about his love affair to Anna, a young married woman. One Alyohin was elected honorary justice and he had to go to the town. There he had a good friendship with Mr. Luganovich, an assistant president of the circuit court. Alyohin was invited by Luganovich to have a dinner at his home and Alyohin got opportunity to see his beautiful wife, Anna Alexeyevna. Alyohin was influenced by her beauty and she was also influenced by his physical structure. They fell in love but couldn’t express their love. Anna, the mother of a baby, was really younger and beautiful. Her image began to move in Alyohin’s mind all the time. Anna also found Alyohin younger and smarter than her husband.   

One day, Alyohin met her in a party. He found her more beautiful than before. They would go to see a play in theatre. Then Alyohin visited her frequently. He didn’t express his love because he did not like to destroy the conjugal life of his friend. He was uncertain about his own economic condition and love for her. Anna also could not express her love because she was married. Slowly and gradually, she began moody because of her unfulfilled desire. In fact, she became psychologically ill. According to the doctor’s suggestion, she had to go to Crimea for mental treatment.

As Anna set out to Crimea, many people came to see her off. She boarded the train. She had forgotten to take her basket so Alyohin rushed to her with the basket. She was desperately sitting in the compartment. When their eyes met, the spiritual strength deserted both of them. Then he embraced her in his arm. She pressed her face on his breast. He kissed her and confessed his love. Then he realized that their love was hindered by some unimportant but fatal questions. Both of them cried and departed. Actually, Alovohin did not give any importance to her physical or economic condition but simply loved her. So, we can say that it was a pure love or spiritual love.

His condition, therefore was like a squirrel that rushes around in a cage because just like the squirrel can not come out of the cage breaking iron bars, Alyohin could not come out of his poor economic condition and could not fight against the fatal questions that were the hindrance of his love. Despite being a scholar he was condemned to work in his field being penniless and despite being young he was a lovelorn bachelor.  

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