"The Lady with the Pet Dog" is Joyce Carol Oates" updated version of Anton Chekov's "The Lady with the Dog". Oates did a wonderful job restructuring the plot and changing the protagonist from the man to the woman. If the essay was about Checkov's "The Lady with the Dog", the theme would have to of been appearance versus reality. However, Oates" modern version places the woman as the narrator, and by doing so unmistakably changes the theme to Love. Not just the shameful love of a man who is not hers, but the love she has for herself.
The story starts at the rising action, and continues with a cyclic plot of flashbacks mixed in with the present. The setting in the first part of the story keeps with the theme and takes place in the DeRoy Symphony Hall, where seemingly happy couples who are in love have come to enjoy a show. Anna, the protagonist is at the theater with her husband (the antihero) who is off getting them drinks. While he is away, she sees her lover, who is the antagonist. Seeing her forbidden man when she least expects it causes her to panic. She is sick with what she calls shame that feels like "mucus, like something thick and gray, congested inside her, stuck to her- 749. But, the shame is not shame at all. What is stuck inside her, even coating her eyelids, is love. She briefly admits it to herself in the middle of her panic. "How slow love was to drain out of her, how fluid and sticky it was inside her head" 749. Her shameful, lustful love for a man who was not her husband reigned over her. Her love for that man made her fee alive and purposeful again. .
Her husband, a clumsy, soft, aging man loved his wife the best he could. "Sometimes he failed at loving her, sometimes he succeeded" 758. He was self absorbed, and probably made Anna feel as though she wasn't important. "He talked to her always about his plans, his problems, his business friends, his future" 751.
Summary of "Love" Article In his July 27, 2001 article from The Washington Post called "What's Love Got to Do With It?" ... His writing tells how he is worried about the nation's youth, but mostly about young women and their stance on what he referred to throughout the article as "hooking up." ... The second problem with hook-ups is that they eliminate the courting process. ...
Confused from what love really is, they immediately attract on each other. ... They barely even got to know each other. ... Every time Romeo and Juliet talk of each other, they do so with unrealistic exaggeration and praise. It seems to the discerning reader that the two characters are more in love with their idealized mental images of each other rather than with the actual person. Just as lust is about focusing on the physical aspect of love, this act of over idealization focusing only on what the lover wants to see instead of what it actually is. ...
I do the same thing with a book. ... Just as people have different ways of expressing their love toward another, so do those who read a book. ... She made sure that she cooked for him, made his lunch, washed his clothes and what did he do to repay her? ... Even so, with people, everyone says that they love someone with all their heart. Using the parallel with books, that's hard to do, although few may accomplish it. ...
She in turn falls in love with Viola's counterpart Cesario. ... He left this ring behind him I do I know not what, and fear to find Mine eye to great a flatterer for my mind. ... When Viola realizes what has happened she immediately realizes the love triangle which has occurred. ... Antonio who is looking after Sebastian, and when Viola got into a fight with Andrew and Toby, Antonio came to the rescue. ... The letter suggests preposterous things for him to do to win her love. ...
If you would've asked me, what is love? ... I never understood what love meant. ... After hearing what, he said it opened my eyes since I recently got married in December. ... He made my mother fall in love with him all over again. ... It shouldn't matter what your loved ones do; you should never stop loving them. ...
Most likely they enjoyed what they have done with their lives. ... She was very motivated to do what needed to be done. ... Finally, Rayona puts love in the things that she does. ... I see her as a girl who loves what she has done and will do. ... "Do not expect love in return. ...
There is no true definition of what love is. ... There was a time when I wasn't sure if I was in love, but as time goes by, and the more I got to know him, the more I got closer to him, there was no mistaking that this is true love. ... Love is not meant for the weak hearted and should not be fooled around with. ... What is the true definition of love? ... Love is just a word but it is what the beholder makes of it. ...
A very popular question that many people think of and wonder is, what is the meaning of love or what is Love? ... Love can also be confused with how you treat or act around someone. ... She ended up telling me that her mother had just passed away just recently and she had been diagnosed with cancer and it all is hitting her at once and she doesn't know what to do. ... The question is "what is love?" but I think that should be "what is not love?"...
The poem Sonnet 43, which is also known as "How do I love thee? ... The private joke was a poem that Browning had previously written that involved a woman deeply in love with a Portuguese poet, which again also confirms my theme of love with the help of BBC. ... Some of the poems that she had written got published in a newspaper. ... They got married on September 12, 1846 in St. ... Shaw agrees by saying, "But to show what the wonderful depth of a woman's love is, and to reach what seems the absolute fullness of human expression, we have the following triumphant song (Sonnet 43) at the...
