While researching about Russian author Anton Chekhov, I have been able to find out many things about his writings. The way I was able to do this was by researching texts from authors who are knowledgeable on the topic of Anton Chekhov. They wrote about things like his writing style and what influenced his writing style and other things. My goal with this paper is to show how Anton Chekhov wrote some of his many stories and connect it with common themes associated with him. I also will find out the reason he wrote in these ways through the influences on his life.
To achieve this goal I have organized my paper into three sections. The first section will be a description of major themes in Chekhov’s works. These works will be “The Seagull”, “The Black Monk”, and “The Bet”. This section will be used to show how Chekhov used themes in some of his specific works. The second section will be a look into the background of Anton Chekhov’s life. This will include information about his early life and other life experiences. This section will be utilized to get an understanding of where some of his writing gets its bearings. It can also be used to get an understanding to where some of his themes are created from. The third section will be about his writing style. This section will include his writing style on literary works and playwrights. It will also include common themes seen across his works. This will be used to draw conclusions between specific stories and show how he applied these themes to his works.
Major Themes in his works
Like many other writers, Anton Chekhov uses many different themes in his works. In this section I will be using specific works and showing the themes he used in them. The first work is “The Seagull”. This story uses the themes of the meaning of life, love, and existentialism. The theme of love is especially present in this story because of the portrayal of the characters. He portrays some characters by showing their love for their careers as actresses. He also shows how a character is severely hampered by his idea of perfectionism. The two themes of existentialism and the meaning of life can be grouped together. They are utilized by Chekhov in this story in accordance with the aforementioned theme of love. The characters see life as meaningless without the love of another. This shows how much of a premium is placed on love by Chekhov.
The second Anton Chekhov work I used is “The Black Monk”. In this story he used the themes of death and disease. He used disease through the form of tuberculosis for the protagonist. He uses this disease to show how people can have a strong will throughout a bad situation. He also uses the theme of death in this story. He uses this to show that eventually everyone will succumb to death. This is used to show that no matter who the person is and how strong they may seem, they will eventually end up like the rest of us.
The third work I used was “The Bet”. This story shows The prominence of the themes of life, greed, freedom, and Christianity. He uses the meaning of life as a theme because one of the characters believes a life without freedom is not a life and that’s why they should use the death penalty. Greed is brought into the story because one of the characters gives up his own freedom just for a sum of money. This is used to show what material things can make a person do. Freedom is seen throughout the story from the character who chose money over it to the issue of the death penalty. This something that plays a huge part in the story and attests to how Chekhov holds it in high regards. Christianity is seen through the issue of the death penalty. Christians know the right decision is that the death penalty is not morally correct. This shows how Chekhov stands on the moral side on these controversial issues.
Background on Anton Chekhov
This section aims to paint a picture of the early life and experiences of Anton Chekhov to see where he came from and how it groomed him to be the writer he would soon become.
Anton was born in 1860 to a free man named Pavel. Anton’s grandfather Egor was a slave who was able to buy his and his families freedom in 1841. Even though Anton or his father were slaves, he still never forgot the hard work of his grandfather and this allowed him to feel “real human blood, not a slave’s flowing through his veins”(Kauffman). He grew up with five siblings and worked in his father’s store. Early on he used satirical writings to help with finances in his family because of his fathers bankruptcy. This made him have a sense of a need to help support the family in this time of crisis. In 1879, Chekhov moved to Moscow for the purpose of studying medicine. His way to get money to pay for it was to start to be a writer. He quickly became a well-respected writer but he used his background in medicine as a source of increase as he was a qualified physician. This is exhibited in this quote: “Chekhov considered modern medicine his ‘lawful wife,’ and the effects of these narcotics can be seen in his themes” (Odesskaya 192).
Writing Style
This section serves to show how he wrote his different works. These works include his literary style and his playwriting style. It will also include his common themes that are seen across his works. The aim of this section is to see the techniques and styles he used to be the well-known writer he’s known to be today.
One technique that Anton Chekhov uses is tirades. This is a technique that is not widely accepted by theaters and the audiences that come to see it. The reason for this is that lengthy tirades by characters are not seen as interesting and are more suited for written works than that of which is performed on stage. Another technique he uses is the comparison of two seemingly incompatible things. This is seen when he compares hospitals with prisons. When thinking of hospitals, many people see it as a place of helping and not for the imprisonment of criminals.
Another technique that Chekhov uses in his works is realism. Realism is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as a concern for fact or reality and rejection of the impractical and visionary. This means that it is seen as a person seeing things exactly as they really are and not making up any parts of them. Using realism also means that these stories are not the most uplifting or happy. This was even noticed by some of his peers as seen in this quote “A very fine writer, people got to like him, and began to like him. But he is a cold one, and there’s nothing particular in him. I understand his success but don’t enjoy it” (Oklot 63). He is basically saying how he understands and respects how Chekhov uses his writing to make his living, but he also acknowledges how he knows that is something that can be very grueling and depressing.
The literary style of Chekhov is seen as out of the ordinary. He uses things that can seem awkward and make the audience seem to be in scrutiny of the stage characters. This can put the audience in a frightened state. It also helps by putting action in unexpected spots to give his seems a layered effect to make them seem deeper. One idea he uses commonly is medicine. As mentioned above, he was a qualified physician which allowed him to have a good idea of medicinal practices which he could utilize in the various stories he has written.
Another example of how Anton Chekhov’s writing was seen as out of the ordinary is explained in a quote from George Lang’s book “Anton Chekhov, ‘Genius in a Nutshell’”: “Chekhov wittily ridiculed the old, generally accepted principles of structure in story and descriptive writing that had become established in literature. ‘The subject must be new but there need not be any plot,’ he said” (Lang 14) This shows how he strived to be different from the norms that society had accepted in the literary culture. It also plays to the way he wrote his plays as is explained in the following paragraph.
The playwriting style of Anton Chekhov was aimed at changing the traditional ways of theater he experienced during his time. He wanted to do plays based on lives of normal people and make the play more about the character than based on the plot. This meant that when he first presented these new ideas, it was tough for the actors and even the audience to understand what was going. These plays were a different view of people which led to people having mixed emotions at them. His goal with these plays was to show the people how their lives were not good and this was a way for them to look at themselves (Lang). This was something that was seen by his peers as seen in the quote “Chekhov was prepared to generalize on the basis of self-observation” (Finke 140). This idea of self-observation plays along with the common theme in his works about how his stories were based more on the development of characters and less on the main idea of the story or plot. Lang also spoke about how his plays could seem as if they had no organization:
“The peculiar and unique distinction of Chekhov’s plays is the style, the way in which they were written. Like his stories, they seem haphazard. When the curtain goes up on a Chekhov play one is not aware of watching a set of people detached from one’s own life, one simply feels that one has been able to become an extension of their lives” (Lang 12).
This quote is a perfect example of how Chekhov wants his writing of plays to be perceived. He doesn’t want these plays to seem as if they are so far off from reality, but rather he wants these plays to relate to his audience for the fact that it will help them have a more realistic idea when analyzing his or her own life.
This idea of character development is something seen a lot in today’s world but was not seen a lot back in Chekhov’s time. George Lang does a good job of summing up how Chekhov tried to use this idea in his works:
“Chekhov deliberately avoids giving an extensive, all-round description of a character. He does not draw a portrait, does not relate intimate details of his life and does not give the reader his biography, his previous history. One moment only out of a mass of vital facts and events is seized upon and that moment is reproduced as a story” (Lang 14).
With this quote, Lang is saying that while Chekhov focused more on developing the characters of his writings, he did not just tell us about the characters, but rather we have to discern the character development from the happenings of the story
As stated before, not everyone appreciated Chekhov’s writing style during his time. This can be seen from quotes like this “The main one was a disagreement on the point that problems of creativity cannot be reduced to the laws of nature” (Chudakov 93). This a quote about an article written about Chekhov in which the author disagrees with Anton’s writing style. His primary grievance is with the liberties that Chekhov seems to take with the laws of nature in his writings. One of the reasons for this disagreement was because of who had a great influence on Chekhov’s works. “Chekhov was influenced greatly by the works of Charles Darwin, and much of his time he spent reading his works. What he saw in Darwin he brought into his own work” (Finke 99). This quote shows how long before he had an influence on people like he does today, he himself was influenced by another influential person like Charles Darwin. It helps to show the effects that a person can have on others. This is also prime example of how Chekhov was not seen with the same reverence as he is seen in today’s world.
Another example of his works not being accepted during his time comes from George Lang:
“In his letters, Chekhov often alluded to these difficulties and to his own genre that nobody would recognize. He had to wage a prolonged struggle to obtain acceptance of this style. Nobody wanted to print his story ‘Shorter than a Sparrow’s Beak’, for example, and it was returned to him contemptuously, but still he was not discouraged” (Lang 13).
This quote about the differing genre that Chekhov used in his writings shows how he was very determined in his works and a small setback could not discourage his writings. This would prove to be good choice down the road as with how he has shaped the modern world.
Influence on the Modern World
This section serves to show the impact that the writings of Anton Chekhov’s have had on the modern world. The aim of this is to show how he has shaped how some of the modern writers have acquired ideas and also to show the difference with how we see things now along with how they have changed over time.
Over the years things change. This is a concept that as humans we see all the time. One thing that a lot of people don’t see is the people or other things that change them. This all relates to Anton Chekhov too. “Emerging out of the shadow of fellow Russian author Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) developed the parameters of the modern short story” (Linforth). This shows how he’s had a huge impact on today’s writings. At the time when he was pioneering these ideas, he was thought of to be out of place and not seen of any importance. Though, like many other things, the public’s view of him has changed and now he is seen as an influential piece of creating the modern short story. As mentioned in an earlier paragraph, the influence Charles Darwin had on the works of Anton Chekhov can help to show how he can have that same influence on people today.
His impact on the modern world can not be talked about enough as George Lang said in his book “Anton Chekhov, ‘Genius in a Nutshell’”: “Chekhov made innovations both in ideology and style. ‘An author’s originality is not only in his style but also in his mode of thinking, in his convictions, etc.’” (Lang 13). This quote shows the brilliance of Chekhov in how he was able to be original in many ways. These ways included his new and improved short stories, his use of his background in medicine, and even the way he wrote his plays, focusing more on the development of characters rather than the plot. Another quote from this same book shows Chekhov has an impact on society: “Writers of world renown have spoken admiringly of Chekhov’s ability to create an unforgettable story out of simple, everyday material. The British writer, John Galsworthy, said in 1918: ‘Chekhov’s great success is in his ability to make tranquillity exciting in the same way as prairies or deserts excite those who see them for the first time’” (Galsworthy). This shows how the times have changed and the previously overlooked Chekhov is now see with great admiration.
Conclusion
From examining these sources about Russian writer Anton Chekhov, I can conclude that he has a huge influence on the literary norms that we see today. From the way he used character development in his plays to the way he wrote his short stories, what was seen as out of place during his time has now become something we see while reading routinely. Authors like Geoffrey Borny, Christopher Linforth, and George Lang, among others, have helped to paint a good picture to show how someone who died in 1904 could have such a huge influence on the world all the way into the year 2018.
Works Cited
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