StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Analysis of The Kiss by Anton Chekhov - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
"Analysis of The Kiss by Anton Chekhov" paper outlines the summary and analyzes the themes and literary aspects of the story. It contains all the requisite features of a good short story. Elements of excitement, drama, romantic infatuation and suspense make the story hold its ground…
Download free paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER98% of users find it useful
Analysis of The Kiss by Anton Chekhov
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Analysis of The Kiss by Anton Chekhov"

The Kiss by Anton Chekhov The Kiss by Anton Chekhov is a brilliant short story. It contains all the requisite features of a good short story. Elements of excitement, drama, romantic infatuation and suspense make the story hold its ground. In terms of literary devices, the apt yet optimal use of imagery and symbolism accentuates the overall effect on the reader. The story is also outstanding for its accommodation of dual characteristics of the concrete and the abstract. In other words, while the romantic preoccupation of Ryabovitch has a certain immediacy and specificity, by the end of the story, it becomes clear that the author is dealing with human universals. The character of Ryabovitch pitted against the unexpected circumstances he finds himself in acts as a representation for broader human life. The rest of the essay will outline the summary, and analyze the themes and literary aspects of the story. When the officers of a reserve artillery brigade pass through the countryside as part of their military excursion, they are invited for tea by local landlord and retired General von Rabbek. The invitation was largely a matter of courtesy and formality, as the General could have very little genuine interest in entertaining a group of officers unknown and unconnected to him. The event begins on an awkward note, but is soon smoothened by banter, good food and music. When music is played, the young officers choose attractive young women from the gathering to dance in duet. What should be a pleasurable evening out for most is quite the opposite for one young officer called Ryabovitch, who is the central character of the story. Ryabovitch is a shy, lean and modest staff-captain, who regards himself as unattractive. He thinks of himself as “short, stooping... with spectacles and lynx-like side whiskers". He could be true about this assessment of himself, or it could have born of his low self-esteem. Either way, he finds social occasions discomforting, especially if it involves attractive young women. He tries to minimize his discomfort by joining a group of officers in the billiards room, but soon gets bored. On his way back to the central hall, he gets lost in the labyrinthine design of the house and ends up visiting a darkly lit room. As he ponders where to go next, a young woman visits him in the room and from behind him, plants a kiss upon his cheek. Momentarily, she realizes that she’s kissed the wrong man – something indicated by her surprised shriek and immediate rushing out of the room. Though aback by this unexpected yet very pleasant sensation of the young lady’s caress and kiss, the young Ryabovitch enjoyed immensely the waft of delightful perfume and the rustle of her delicate dress. This accidental presentation of a powerful feminine charm would have a profound effect on him in subsequent days. The days after the accidental kiss were one of fanciful infatuation, mixed with imaginative flights of romance, marriage and a happy conjugal life thereafter. All other activities relating to his military duties appear in a blur, as his mind was fixated on the kiss, though he knew well that there is nothing more to it than an accident. In these days of imaginative fancy, Ryabovitch “goes on feeling the tingle of the kiss "like peppermint drops" around his mouth; every night he visualizes the girl who kissed him, and retains his joy at fates accidental caress.” (Evans, 2008, p. 26) Even when the brigade is on the move he daydreams about the kiss and the beauty of the girl. A moving brigade is a complicated affair, with all members of it playing their respective roles and coordinating with one another’s movements. But even this deliberate and complex piece of military routine appears to Ryabovitch as quite boring – an indication of the deep impact made by his evening at the General’s. Though his romantic urges are heightened by the event of the kiss, he slowly comes to realize the reality of his situation. That the girl intended to kiss another man and mistook for him in the dark was always known to Ryabovitch, but now he begins to consciously remind himself of this fact. But, when, after a three month interval, his brigade happens to cross the same village again, his pent up anticipation of meeting the girl who kissed him and pouring out his thoughts to her. But his desperate expectation of an invitation from General von Rabbek similar to the previous visit does not arrive on time. In the mean time, he admonishes himself for his own futile desperation and the purposelessness of his enterprise. When he is eventually informed of the General’s invitation to tea, he sticks by the decision not to pursue the girl. In other words, he has honestly measured his own foolish romantic tendencies and evaluated the vacuity of meaning in his pursuit of the mistaken girl. Standing by his convictions and by his own assessment of the situation, he declines the invitation from the General. This approach is not only pragmatic but also righteous, balanced and courageous. Though the ending to the story may come across as anti-climatic, it actually shows Ryabovitch’s conquering of himself, as opposed to the vanity of conquering the heart of an unknown girl. It is important to understand the personal philosophy of the author to appreciate the work he has created. A 1888 letter Chekhov wrote to a friend reveals this philosophy as well as sets the conceptual framework for studying the short story The Kiss. The letter was written in an emotional tone and expresses Chekhov’s personal credo that he was otherwise not ready to speak about: “I am neither liberal, nor conservative, nor gradualist, nor monk, nor indifferentist.... Pharisaism, dull wittedness and tyranny reign not only in merchants homes and police stations. I see them in science, in literature, among the younger generation.... I look upon tags and labels as prejudices. My holy of holies is the human body, health, intelligence, talent, inspiration, love, and the most absolute freedom imaginable, freedom from violence and lies, no matter what form the latter two take.” (McConkey, 2005) In studying The Kiss, the last sentence from the above passage provides the most relevant context. The story stands for ‘freedom from lies’ as much as it stands for other profound universal truths. In the case of Ryabovitch, the more accurate description is ‘freedom from self-deception’, which he at long last manages to achieve. Another salient feature of The Kiss is its rootedness to the ethnic while also appealing to the universal. For example, The Kiss was written during the early twentieth century. To this extent, some of the sentiments and situations explained by it are specific to the time. Let us take the importance attached by the author to the chance ‘kiss’. In contemporary culture, a kiss on the cheek is not a major life event – it happens as a matter of course in everyday life. But the social customs and norms of early twentieth century Russia is quite distant to current standards. Hence, a kiss by an un-married woman, chance or deliberate, carried a lot of significance. During that era, the society placed a lot of importance to the institution of marriage. Marriage was seen as not only a stable economic and social arrangement, but it also carried prestige and respectability. “Its all very ordinary, and every one goes through it. . .That general, for instance, has once been in love; now he is married and has children. Captain Vahter, too, is married and beloved, though the nape of his neck is very red and ugly and he has no waist. . . Salrnanov is coarse and very Tatar, but he has had a love affair that has ended in marriage. . . I am the same as every one else, and I, too, shall have the same experience as every one else, sooner or later. . .” (Chekhov, The Kiss, p.11) Though modern reader may not make much of a chance kiss aka how Ryabovitch has reacted, a few changes to the event would render it applicable to modern times, with its own sets of values and cultural norms. This observation is true of the treatment of pre-marital sex as well. Though premarital sex was not taboo, it was largely a prerogative of men. Women were expected to be chaste and virtuous, prior and after marriage, respectively. “In the evenings when his comrades began talking of love and women, he would listen, and draw up closer..And on the evenings when the officers, out on the spree with the setter -- Lobytko -- at their head, made Don Juan excursions to the "suburb," and Ryabovitch took part in such excursions, he always was sad, felt profoundly guilty, and inwardly begged her forgiveness. . . .” (Chekhov, The Kiss, p.12) Skip ahead a century of progress and women’s emancipation, inequalities have not disappeared altogether. While the specific details of the inequities between the genders have morphed, the theme is alive and persistent. In this sense, The Kiss, is a story that offers interpretive and analytic scope across many disciplines and issues. In sum, literary critic Julian Evans’ assessment of The Kiss captures the essence and highlights of the story: “Embarrassment, the boredom of social life, disappointment, pointless accident: what Chekhov makes out of these snares, the heart- wringing atmosphere he lightly fashions, remains a revelation to me. Cruelty and arbitrary tragedy appear in these stories too. But somehow little seems crueller than his disappointment and ennui. There is a tragic depth to Chekhovs conjuring of lives like Ryabovichs, lived on the surface, that first gave me an idea of how a metaphor could be told in the form of a story and render the world legible. The virtue of this story is its completeness, its summoning of human feelings perfectly matched to the events that produce them.” (Evans, 2008, p. 26) Works Cited Evans, Julian. "The Kiss and Other Stories Anton Chekhov." The Independent (London, England) 2 June 2008: 26. Questia. Web. 25 Sept. 2012. McConkey, James. "Chekhovs Journey: A Writer Discovers the Ideal of Freedom in a Rugged Prison Colony." American Scholar Autumn 2005: 84+. Questia. Web. 25 Sept. 2012. Chekhov, Anton, Forty Stories, translated and with an introduction by Robert Payne, New York, Vintage, 1991 edition, ISBN 978-0-679-73375-1 Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(Analysis of The Kiss by Anton Chekhov Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words, n.d.)
Analysis of The Kiss by Anton Chekhov Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words. https://studentshare.org/literature/1782269-the-kiss
(Analysis of The Kiss by Anton Chekhov Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 Words)
Analysis of The Kiss by Anton Chekhov Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 Words. https://studentshare.org/literature/1782269-the-kiss.
“Analysis of The Kiss by Anton Chekhov Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 Words”. https://studentshare.org/literature/1782269-the-kiss.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Analysis of The Kiss by Anton Chekhov

Marital Strain in Henrik Ibsens Ghosts and Anton Chekhovs the Seagull

Marital Strain in Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts and anton chekhov's The Seagull Marital strain has often been the theme of many literary works.... This is also the subject in the plays Ghosts and The Seagull, which are respectively written by Henrik Ibsen and anton chekhov....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

An Interpretation of Multi-Dimensional Views of the Topic of Love Using Chekhovs Short Story

Dear writer, dear actress : the love letters of anton chekhov and Olga Knipper.... Whereas love has more often than not been a key component of literature and the short story due to the fact that it is one of the most nuanced and seemingly incomprehensible of emotions, chekhov considers the issue of love in his short story “About Love”.... hellip; As stated, the non-one dimensional nature of the emotion is something that has caused a host of authors to consider the topic; in this way, chekhov seeks to consider the topic of love by reviewing it in three different forms within his short story....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

Anton Chekovs A Marriage Proposal

anton Chekov's every play is an intriguing depiction and exploration of human psyche in which he uses his his power of imagination and dramatic skills to enlighten the readers about human behaviors in a comical manner.... Hence by using this technique Chekov presents the readers with an in-depth character analysis where the reader is enlightened about an individual's personal perspective as well as the manner in which the other people perceive him....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

Analysis The lady with the petdog

anton chekhov tells the story of a man who falls in love well into his middle-age years in “The Lady with the Pet Dog.... Name Instructor Class 19 February 2013 Inexplicable, Illogical, Immoral love in chekhov's “The Lady with the Pet Dog” Love is crazy, but so what?... chekhov's “The Lady with the Pet Dog” uses ambiguity, setting, characterization, and realism to suggest that love has no logic, explanation, and morality, but people continue to fight for it because it is the only thing that makes them truly happy....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

Literary analysis of The Darling written by Anton Chekhov

chekhov's short stories and plays usually do not have strong plots and focus more on characterization than action.... The story is about a woman, Olenka, nicknamed “Darling”, who is lonely, insecure, and who feels incomplete and empty without a man in her life.... Olenka also… Her first husband Kukin is the manager of a theater....
4 Pages (1000 words) Research Paper

A Critical Analysis of the Theme of Status in Chekhovs The Confession and Ninochka

This essay analyzes the theme of “Status” in chekhov's “The Confession” and “Ninochka”.... Indeed chekhov indicates to the irony that status itself -in a bureaucratic society- is essentially pompous and it is based upon self-deception.... The commonality that underlies both stories- is that both of them deal with the ironies and deceptions that are closely related to people's status in the society....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

Chekhovs Bear in the Light of Farce

The Bear is a wonderful comic play by nineteenth-century Russian playwright anton chekhov, which hilariously portrays the domestic life of Mrs Popov in a funny way, who appears to be mourning the death of his husband died some seven months back.... The paper "chekhov's Bear in the Light of Farce" discusses that the important characteristic of farce observed by the Bear is this that the characters pretend to be very wise and prudent ones, though their senselessness serves as a burden for the listeners....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

A short reflection on The Lady With the Per Dog by Anton Chekhov

Anna is a typical upper-class married woman, who enjoys English Literature ic and Modern), Essay A Short Reflection on "The Lady with the Pet Dog"by anton chekhov In their first encounter, one will be able to detect that Gurov is not in genuine love with Anna Sergeyevna.... Anton writes, “In… s appearance, in his character, in his whole nature, there was something attractive and elusive which allured women and disposed them in his favor; he knew that, and some force seemed to draw him, too, to them” (chekhov)....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us