Examining the Representations of Love, Marriage, and Romance in ‘Colonel Chabert’ and ‘The Lady with the Little Dog’
Examining the Representations of Love, Marriage, and Romance in ‘Colonel Chabert’ and ‘The Lady with the Little Dog’
The two novels, Colonel Chabert by Honore de Balzac and The Lady with the Little Dog by Anton Chekhov, both explore the darker side of love and marriage. Traditionally marriage is viewed as a strong emotional bond held between two people who are truly in love. However, each story portrays the different ways in which people express love in the public sphere compared to their actions and thoughts in private. While the main characters in each story have separate ways of viewing love and the institution of marriage, the points being made by each author along with the messages they attempt to convey to readers are very similar. They demonstrate how deceiving love can actually be and investigate the hidden, secretive reasons behind why one person may “fall in love” or marry another person.
In Colonel Chabert, author Honore de Balzac describes the twisted marriage between the Colonel and his ex-wife; despite the fact that she married Chabert, his wife never actually loved him. After the Colonel goes to war and is pronounced dead, his wife moves on to marry another man even though she knows he is still alive. On page 33 the Colonel says, “She knows that I am alive; since my return she has received two letters written in my own hand. She does not love me anymore” (Balzac 33). Another statement made by Chabert, “Monsieur, the Countess Ferraud is my wife! She posses 30,000 pounds that belongs to me, and she won’t give me a sou” (Balzac 26) is further evidence that his wife never loved the Colonel but rather married him for his money and military status. If she actually did love him she would have given him enough money to live comfortably after she found out he actually survived the war. Nobody enjoys seeing somebody whom they truly love suffer, and if the love is strong enough they will do whatever is necessary to help that person. However, the
The two novels, Colonel Chabert by Honore de Balzac and The Lady with the Little Dog by Anton Chekhov, both explore the darker side of love and marriage. Traditionally marriage is viewed as a strong emotional bond held between two people who are truly in love. However, each story portrays the different ways in which people express love in the public sphere compared to their actions and thoughts in private. While the main characters in each story have separate ways of viewing love and the institution of marriage, the points being made by each author along with the messages they attempt to convey to readers are very similar. They demonstrate how deceiving love can actually be and investigate the hidden, secretive reasons behind why one person may “fall in love” or marry another person.
In Colonel Chabert, author Honore de Balzac describes the twisted marriage between the Colonel and his ex-wife; despite the fact that she married Chabert, his wife never actually loved him. After the Colonel goes to war and is pronounced dead, his wife moves on to marry another man even though she knows he is still alive. On page 33 the Colonel says, “She knows that I am alive; since my return she has received two letters written in my own hand. She does not love me anymore” (Balzac 33). Another statement made by Chabert, “Monsieur, the Countess Ferraud is my wife! She posses 30,000 pounds that belongs to me, and she won’t give me a sou” (Balzac 26) is further evidence that his wife never loved the Colonel but rather married him for his money and military status. If she actually did love him she would have given him enough money to live comfortably after she found out he actually survived the war. Nobody enjoys seeing somebody whom they truly love suffer, and if the love is strong enough they will do whatever is necessary to help that person. However, the