“The Bear” makes fun of the way the
aristocracy lives. Elena, the widow, lives off her money and refuses to leave the
house. Smirnov, another wealthy landowner, lives by borrowing and lending
money.
Elena Popova is brooding over the
picture of her husband six months after he died in the beginning of the play. She has
interred herself in her house. This is a silly thing to do, from a silly woman. She has
the luxury of grief because she is rich. She was also loyal to him even though by her
own admission he treated her terribly and cheated on her, yet still expected her to be
loyal to his memory.
I loved him passionately with all my being, as
only a young and imaginative woman can love, I gave him my youth, my happiness, my life,
my fortune, I breathed in him, I worshipped him as if I were a heathen, and... and what
then?
Smirnov seems to be the
opposite of Elena’s husband. It seems that in his relationships, he was the one who
loved. However, he also appears to have had his heart
broken.
I
used to love passionately, madly, every blessed way, devil take me; I used to chatter
like a magpie about emancipation, and wasted half my wealth on tender feelings, but
now--you must excuse
me!
Smirnov and Elena have
real problems, but they are the problems of the aristocracy. Smirnov goes comically
from being very polite when asking for the money to being very rude when she cannot give
it to him.
Just as he changes his manners, he changes his
passions. He goes from being angry at her and all women-kind to kissing her and falling
in love with her dimples.
No comments:
Post a Comment