Following the 18^th century Age of Reason was the 19^th century movement of Romanticism.  During this period, writers rebelled against the strict ideas of logic and reason that were prevalent during the Enlightenment.  Lost in the quest for knowledge was the importance of human emotions.  Charles Baudelaire, a romantic writer, defined Romanticism as: “precisely situated neither in choice of subject nor exact truth, but in the way of feeling.”  Also a Symbolist, Baudelaire utilized the “evocative power of words to express [these] feelings, sensations, and states of mind that lie beyond everyday awareness (Smith).  In his poem, “A Carcass”, which made its public appearance in 1857, Baudelaire uses this power to evoke discomfort as his audience reads about a female carcass.  These emotions evoked represent Baudelaire’s view of women, as well as the overall male perspective of women at the time.  Another romantic writer, Anton Chekhov, also makes comments on this perspective in his short story “The Lady with the Dog”, which was published in 1899.  Throughout this story it is evident that Chekhov recognized the intolerance women faced during his lifetime.  Although his writing is less explicit than Baudelaire’s, Chekhov’s vague storytelling insinuates his realization of this intolerance.  Through the depiction of women in their writing, both Baudelaire and Chekhov unearth the unfair treatment women faced during the 19^th century.

In Baudelaire’s “A Carcass”, the narrator (implied to be a male) depicts a woman’s dead carcass in disgusting detail to an unnamed female who is his lover.  Baudelaire’s choice of words evokes strong imagery and emotion.  His verbs especially create this disturbing imagery; the quotes on page 1,387 “Festering womb” and “flies buzzed and droned on these bowels of filth” depict how vulgarly this woman’s carcass is described.  By using such descriptive, literal imagery, Baudelaire isn’t only painting us a picture of how grotesque the carcass is; he is showing us how women were depicted during the 19^th century.  By leaving the narrator as an unnamed character, never introduced to the reader, he implies that all men (his “doubles” or “brothers”, as referred to in his poem “To The Reader”) are guilty of having this view of women.  The poem in its entirety is so over the top with vulgarity that it’s tone becomes mocking.  From the introduction to Baudelaire in The Norton Anthology of World Literature, we learn that the poem’s format is meant to mock the “Petrarchan ideals of feminine beauty” (p.1382).  “My passion, my angel [“series of conventional Petrarchan images that idealize the beloved”] in one!” (p.1387).  Not only is he mocking the Petrarchan idealization of feminine beauty, he is also mocking women in general.  The narrator, in reference to the carcass, tells his lover “– And you, in your turn, will be rotten as this; Horrible, filthy, undone” (p. 1387).  Baudelaire has doomed the narrator’s lover to the same cruel fate of the carcass.  There is no hope for her character, or other women, as they are both overgeneralized as objects of sex.  In an idealized world, she is the narrator’s “sun of [his] nature and star of [his] eyes” (p.1387); Baudelaire is saying that in reality, she’s “a lecherous whore” (p.1387).

Chekhov also depicts women in a negative light.  In contrast to Baudelaire, however, Chekhov’s writing is vague.  In a letter to A.S. Suvorin on October 27^th, 1888, Chekhov writes: “you confuse two things: solving a problem and stating a problem correctly.  It is only the second that is obligatory for the artist…It is the business of the judge to put the right questions, but the answers must be given by the jury according to their own lights.”  This idea that the artist only needs to state the problems – not solve them, is evident throughout the story.  On the first page of Chekhov’s “The Lady with the Dog”, Dmitri Dmitrich Gurov shows his intolerant view of women, referring to them as “the lower race” (p.1524).   Although Dmitry has degrading views of women, in the following sentence the narrator adds commentary to Dmitry’s negative thoughts: “…without this ‘lower race’ he could not have existed a single day.  He was bored and ill-at-ease in the company of men…but felt quite at home among women…he could even be silent in their company without feeling the slightest awkwardness” (p.1524).  There are also interesting similarities between Chekhov, and the character Gurov.  In the book Chekhov’s Leading Lady by Harvey Pitcher, Chekhov is described as “Russia’s most elusive literary bachelor”, known to have multiple love affairs; Dmitry was “constantly unfaithful to [his wife]” (p.1524).  In his introduction in The Norton Anthology of World Literature we also learn that he moved to Yalta in 1899, the location the story begins in, the same year “The Lady with the Dog” was published.  Chekhov is using the contrasting voices of Gurov and the narrator to illustrate his own personal conflicts in regards to his views of women.  These voices also contradict themselves, shedding light on the hypocrite Gurov/Chekhov can be: “He became gradually immersed in Moscow life, reading with avidity three newspapers a day, while declaring he never read Moscow newspapers on principle” (p.1530).  Part of him enjoys his frivolous love life, while another longs for a deeper emotional fulfillment.  “…everything in the world is beautiful really, everything but our own thoughts and actions, when we lose sight of the higher aims of life, and of our dignity as human beings” (p.1528).

As Gurov catches a glimpse of himself on the last page of the story, he realizes how time has caught up with him, and begins pitying himself.  “Women had always believed him different from what he really was, had loved in him not himself but the man their imagination pictured him, a man they had sought for eagerly all their lives…when they discovered their mistake, they went on loving him just the same.  And not one of them had ever been happy with him…he had met one woman after another, become intimate with each, parted with each, but had never loved.  There had been all sorts of things between them, but never love” (p. 1535).  Gurov faces himself, reflecting on his life.  He seduced women through lies, never getting to show his true self, and could therefore never be loved for whom he really was.  Chekhov is admitting fault in his treatment of women, although the women who fall in love with him are not without blame either.  Earlier in the story, Gurov recalls women whose “features flitted a predatory expression, betraying a determination to wring from life more than it could give…and when Gurov had cooled to these, their beauty aroused in him nothing but repulsion, and the lace trimming on their underclothes reminded him of fish-scales” (p.1527).  These women don’t have the right intentions either: they are after Gurov not seeking love, but seeking to exploit his wealth.  These negative emotional qualities chase Gurov away, and their physical beauty that attracted Gurov wears off.  These women are also criticized for still loving him even though they’ve discovered he’s a liar.  Chekhov is pointing out how ridiculous the values and laws of attraction are.  These values and laws of attraction have had a harmful effect on love lives, and have caused grief and despair.

Baudelaire’s poem is much shorter than Chekhov’s short story.  Consequently, in order to make his point, his words are more direct.  This does not mean that they aren’t symbolic.  Instead, each line is carefully crafted to contain as much meaning as possible through words that evoke strong imagery and emotions in the reader.  These emotions and imagery are disgusting, and are meant to parallel his view of women in society.  Chekhov’s short story, although less direct with it’s message, still carries negative connotations towards women.  However, in the 42 years that have passed between these two pieces of writing, progress in the way women are characterized can be seen.  In Gurov’s short story, despite sexism still strongly apparent, there is a feeling of hope for women’s rights.  Chekhov acknowledges that there is a problem regarding the values of men and women behind attraction, and admits that the way he once treated women wasn’t right – back then he had lost “sight of the higher aims of life, and…dignity as [a] human being” (p.1528).  Only after Gurov “had he fallen in love properly” had he realized these mistakes, although now he has already been married with a child, and he has grown old.  Through their intolerant depiction of women in their writing, a topic once unspoken of and ignored can be brought to the public surface, and progress for women’s rights can be made.