Wai Hing Leung
English 2850
Professor Cheryl Smith
March 21^st, 2012.

Essay #2

            Women are changing over time, such as their power, their characterization, their standard.  At the same time, the attitude that they get treated is changing as well.  The poem “La Belle Dame sans Meci” by John Keats and the short story “The Lady With The Dog” by Anton Chekhov were both written in nineteenth century, and they both suggest some ideas of the characterization of women and the attitude toward women. In nineteenth century, women were characterized as beautiful and mystery, but they were lack of freedom and did not have as much power as men did. In addition, the attitudes toward women were mostly negative such as lower class and can be cheated on.

            Women were characterized as beautiful, mystery, powerless and lack of freedom. In the poem “La Belle Dame sans Meci,” Keats wrote, “I met a lady in the meads, full beautiful, a faery’s child” (P, 828). Women were characterized as faery while faery could symbolize for beauty, innocent and mystery. In nineteenth century, women were just like the faery. They were pure and have good looking. Also, they were mystery, because their inside and their thinking were not easy to be known and understood. For example, Keats wrote on his poem, “she took me to her elfin grot and there she wept and sighed full sore” (P, 829). When the fairy got back to her elfin grot, she cried; it would like when a woman got back to her home, she would cry and become sad like the fairy wept and sigh in her elfin grot. This can show women in nineteenth century are not living well and happily at their home. When women are not happy in their home, one factor that leads to their unhappiness would be their husbands are controlling them too much. In the short story “The Lady With The Dog,” Chekhov described the female main character, Anna Sergeyevna, lived in a house surrounded with long gray fence (P, 1531). Fences are usually symbolized for freedom. When a woman lives in a house surrounds by fence, it can show the woman is characterized as lack of freedom. It suggests that in nineteenth century, once a woman is married, she would have no freedom because her husband would keep her home.

            The attitudes toward women were mostly negative such as lower class and can be cheated on. In the short story “The Lady With The Dog,” Chekhov wrote that the male main character, Dmitri Dmitrich Gurov, “spoke slightingly of women, to whom he referred as the lower race” (P, 1524). Gurov is like representing the men in nineteenth century, and he thinks women as lower race. That would suggest women were treated as lower class and gender discrimination was still existed during that time period.  Also, the quote tells that Gurov did not often speak of women. That would also suggest during nineteenth century, women were not an important to be considered with or talk with. It suggests that there was the attitude of unconcern toward women. Men did not care the feeling of women enough in nineteenth century, and some men might even cheat on women.  For example, Gurov viewed his wife as “shallow, narrow-minded and dowdy, which made him did not want to stay home and had begun deceiving her long ago” and looked for Anna Sergeyevna to be his true lover at the end of the story (P, 1524 & 1535). This tells that  Gurov is sick with his wife and he did not want to be with his wife all time.  However, he did not divorce with her but he went out from his house to escape and look for another woman. This suggests women in nineteenth century did not get fully respected from their husbands. Once a man felt sick of his wife, he would not always stay home with his wife. Instead, he might go out and look for other women to develop relationship. It shows women were getting the attitude that women can be cheated on by men.

            In nineteenth century, women were characterized as beautiful, mystery, powerless and lack of freedom. Women’s outlook was described as positive, but the attitudes toward women were mostly negative such as lower class and can be cheated on. The poem “A Bella Dame sans Meci” and the short story “The Lady With The Dog” both suggest ideas of how women were characterized and what kinds of attitude toward women were held. Even though a woman in nineteenth century can look gorgeous, their inside would be sad and helpless. They did not have as much power as men and were considered as lower race.  Women did not have a lot of freedom as well. Women’s husbands might use their power to limit women’s activities and make women stay home.