Chekhov essays

Chekhov essays Chekhov wants us to see the conflict between authority and freedom, as portrayed by two characters, Nikolai Ivanich and Ivan Ivanich. They are siblings who have differences of values, desires, and personality. Nikolai is a representative of authority while Ivan is a representative of freedom. Nikolai is too obsessive with his definite desire of having his own estate. As we see, Nikolai keeps thinking all the time about obtaining country-dwelling; he always reads advertisements of the sale of so many acres of arable and meadowland, with residence attached, a river, an orchard, a mill, and ponds fed by springs and he also makes plans for his estate which show same features:(the main residence, the servants wing, the kitchen-garden, and gooseberry bushes.) Moreover, he is so ambitious that he can do everything like living thriftily, dressing like a beggar, and saving up all money in the bank, in order to succeed his dream. His marriage with an ugly widow only to gain her money and not considering himself guilty of her death caused from his regime show his selfishness. Nikolais purpose in yearning for the estate is to uplift his social status, wanting to be a gentry as we see that he likes to act in the most ministerial manner, he also repeats that we the gentry, or spe aking as a gentleman, and seems to have quite forgotten that his grandfather was a peasant, and his father a common soldier. These express that he has aristocratic values and doesnt want to return to the state of poverty, being the peasant as the time after his fathers death. Besides, his taking offence if the peasants dont call him Your Honour and his saying that I only have to lift my finger, and the people will do whatever I want show his authoritative figure. Ivan Ivanich is a romantic character; he likes to ...