Critique of “the Darling”Essay title: Critique of “the Darling”For centuries, women have turned and have entrusted in men for advice to fulfill their lives with romance. Some women, even though they had difficulty establishing a satisfactory bond with their spouse, still had a tendency to have a dependency on the male spouse for identity. For a woman to become a “wife” was a defining role in womens lives back then, especially within the eastern European cultures. Sadly, marriage is not always shown to be flowery and romantic as expected. Although Anton Chekov portrays his protagonist character Olga as kind hearted and attractive and favored, she often longs for “love” from the male gender, and serves as the embodiment of female disempowerment.
From Olga’s perspective as the story is told, “she cannot exist without being love” (Literature and its Writers, 109) and her life only takes on a meaning through a relationship to the men she attaches herself to. In this story “The Darling,” Olga explores and molds herself into many personalities and interests of the men in her life. For instance, After her father’s death, Olga is left with only material wealth, and again there is an absence of “love,” that Olga wants. So, Olga first marries a theater owner-Kukin. When married to him, she thinks and speaks only of the theater and “repeating Kukin’s words to the actors and theater” (Literature and its Writers, 110) also saying “theater is the most important thing in life.” Her parroting of her husband’s words alone seems as though Olga never allows for thoughts or opinions of her own, as if she never learned how to think for herself is a principal characteristic of Olga that shows her lack of personality and significance in the plot.
Once Kukin dies, she soon marries a timber merchant named Vassily Pustovalov. During this marriage, she thinks, speaks, and even dreams only of timber and mountains of planks and boards carting somewhere far” (Literature and its Writers, 111) while taking his place in his office for him with now “timber being the most necessary and important thing in life.” Moreover, in an effort to appease her husband, her beliefs and ideas change with, and as often as, her husband’s about every simple aspect in their lives, “if he thought the room was too or that business was slack, she thought the same.” (112). Then, after Pustovalov dies too due to an illness, Olga weeps and recites “I’ve got nobody, now you’ve left me, my darling” (113) which signifies her yearning need for male comfort again. The plot thickens from there, as Chekov further allows readers to examine the role of a woman in those days as serving no greater role in society other than that of mother, whose only virtue is to have the capacity to just “love.”
Furthermore, after isolating herself from the outdoors except only attending church, Olga considers “seeing” a veterinary surgeon, Vladimir Plantonitch, who is separated from his wife and son. Though she does not marry him but only dates, only because “she could not live without some attachment for another year” she suddenly develops a peculiar concern of “food epidemics” and feels compelled to speak only of veterinary concerns such as “cow diseases“ and how “animals ought to be as well cared for as the health of human beings.” When he, too, leaves her, Olgas life becomes empty, as do her thoughts. Without a man around to form her identity, Olga grows old and loses the charm that once upon a time had earned her the alias amongst others that adored her as a
A year later Olga is engaged to a young and beautiful, noble-looking man who uses his talents to inspire her and change the course of her world. This man is well attuned to the physical environment‡, having been blessed with a strong spiritual bond with his wife, and although Olga’s husband is an orphan, the love he has for his wife is not easily separated from her. For Olga, his presence is a source of inspiration. When her husband, an orphan he married, suffers from an ulcerative colitis that affects the joints for several months he and Olga begin to realize that a new way of doing things might exist in the small village of Katahdin, and with her help they set off on their quest. As they are travelling to the Great Labyrinth, Olga’s first dream is brought to life by a familiar face.
When Katahdin’s Labyrinth is discovered by the people, the men who were once friendly toward the kingdom of Katahdin are slaughtered by a band of mysterious beasts called the Dragonwolves, and a group of monsters called the Ice Wolves attempt to return the kingdom from the dragonwolves by causing its fall.
The Dragonwolves, though not always malicious or intent on harm, are known primarily by their magic powers: they believe in magic, they possess the Holy Sword of the Fire Dragon, and even have a special magic device to help them defeat the dragons. But it is up to the heroes… that the Icewolves may prove to be a formidable foe. A long journey leads them into the city of Gorgon, where a group of Ice Wolves have attacked.
There, for unknown reasons, Olga has to make a trip to find a group that may have the means to control the Dragonwolves. If she tries to break the Ice Wolves’ hold on the realm of Katahdin, there will be consequences. She has to confront them.
Olga’s quest has long been fraught with uncertainty as to which of the three groups responsible for this disaster. While she has tried to keep track of what happened to Olga while traveling with her companions, there was no way she could have done it without going through with the plan. Olga had to decide between the others, and her own decisions had to be made up. What happened to her now that she has been saved remains a mystery—but her actions have already saved some of the people who have been suffering under this terrible attack.
If the fate of this journey is any guide, Olga has the burden of having made the choice to become something the people call a «herculean individual». Because she has made this choice, Olga has also chosen to lead a noble life in Katahdin. Whether at the cost of her soul, happiness, or suffering for which she has been given, she chose to go about this journey alone in