About Love
-Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov’s ‘About Love’, beside other minor themes, carries a central theme, i.e. ‘love’ as such is not bound by marital relations.
The story begins in a rather troubled setting. It’s raining outside. Therefore Alyohin and his friends can’t go out of his farmhouse at sofyino. While at breakfast. Alyohin’s servant Nikanor comes up to ask him what the guests like for the day’s dinner and Alyohin starts talking about the affair between Nikanor and pelageya, a servant girl. He says that they are vastly different from each other in terms of their look, manner and thinking. Nevertheless they love each other very deeply. According to Alyohin this is an instance of mysterious and violent love. This anecdote serves him as an outlet to express his love-related troublesome experiences and feelings. For him, love is a mystery as well as a source of dissatisfaction and irritation. At a point, he briefly mentions his own unsuccessful affair with a girl in his university life. His love with the girl is an example of materialistic love.
Alyohin and his friends are still in as it’s raining. He, then, begins his own second story. At present, according to him, he has been living a very difficult life of a ‘squirrel in a cage’. He continues stating that he was sent to the town for higher education and that his father fell into heavy debt. Therefore, on his father’s advice he has been working hard in the field in order to pay off the debt. Before leaving the town, he had been serving as ‘honorary justice of peace’ for the circuit court. During this time, he had to work on an arson case with Luganovich, who was the assistant president of the court. This event brought them very close to each other.
Alyohin continues his story. Once, on Luganovich’s invitation, he went to his house, where he saw Luganovich’s wife Anna Alexeyevna. Even though she already had a baby, she was young, beautiful, kind and fascinating. Alyohin liked her so much that he says’…such a woman as I had never met before.’ Anna and Luganivich provided him with hospitality he had hardly expected. He returned home. This was the spring time. Alyohin spent the whole summer at sofyino but the memory of Anna haunted him all the time. In the late autumn he went to the town as he was invited to a benefit performance. There, he saw Anna also. They sat together and had friendly talks. That day Alyohin also went to Luganovich’s house. In the same way, according to Alyohin, he wouldn’t miss even a single chance to visit the luganoviches whenever he went to the town.
In the course of time, he became so intimate to the luganoviches that he was accepted and treated as the family member. Nevertheless, Anna and Alyohin in a different world Alyohin was attracted towards Anna and so was was the case of Anna towards Alyohin.Their love grew intensely but they were unable to express their love for each other. The love was unexpressed but spiritual. He both were afraid of confesing their love. They concealed it timidly because they both were worried about the future of Anna herself and the whole family.
Alyohin continues his story. Years passed. Anna began to grow moody. She looked dissatisfied and began ignoring her family. At the same time, she had to go to the crimea for the treatment of nerve problems and Luganovich was transferred to a western province. The day came when Anna had to leave for the crimea. The train was about to leave bit she had forgotten her basket. Alyohin went into her compartment with the basket.
There in the compartment, they broke their spiritual barrier and confessed their love for each other. The
train had moved. Alyohin said ‘good-bye’ to her and went into the compartment where he sat crying until
the train reached the next station. Then he walked home to sofyino. As Alyohin finishes his story, the rain
stops and the sun shines. His friends go out to enjoy the scenery. They admire it. They feel Sympathy for
Alyohin’s condition.
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