Rothschilds Fiddle

Jackson Weeks Harold position 101 1-31-13 Chekhovs Use of Futliarnost to Develop Yakov and the Importance of Morals in Rothschilds bring Futliarnost, a Russian literature theme which is ofttimes present in Anton Chekhovs short stories, is when a character is encase in a situation and can not escape. In Rothschilds Fiddle, Yakov is entrapped in an almost trance like state, that is brought round by breathing out and remorse in his smell. Is Yakov eer released from this state, through Marfas death, or any former(a) instance and does Chekhov intend for the referee to sympathize iodine single honorable in this recital? Chekhov uses irony and equivocalness to stand up Yakov Rothschilds Fiddle into a deeper character as well. Chekhov uses unitary situation irony which is central to this short story. Yakov is evidently down(p) for much if not all of his tone, as he is always worrying astir(predicate) his income and his redundant opportunities in sprightliness. moreover ir onically he is arguably more depressed and lamentable after he realizes how meaningless his hearty animation has been. It is at this point when he is preva autisticy more a awake(p) than he has ever been, moreover because he is looking back on his demeanor he wants to die more than ever.Yakov reflected that death would be no social function but a benefit he would not deem to eat or drink, or pay taxes or offend people, and, as a man lies in his grave not for one year but for hundreds and thousands, if one reckoned it up the gain would be enormous. A mans life meant loss death meant gain. With this acknowledgement it can be said that Yakov however becomes more depressed. This is sad to go out because as a reader we finally cod someone that finally has much about life figured out, but it is in his last moments, and he is more miserable than ever.Chekhov Weeks 2 uses this enactment to help smash the sense of futliarnost even more than it already is. Yakov was already trap ped in a state of depression, knowingly or not, and when he finally realizes this at the end of his life he only becomes more depressed. The change that comes about because of this further misery is negative, as Yakov finally realizes many, if not all, of his faults in life yet he is at a point in his life where he can no longer change his ways equal to make up for all of his past mistakes.This is the point in which a honorable can be deduced. Perhaps a moral of live life so that you receive no regrets would be appropriate. besides we must ask ourselves if Chekhov meant for a moral to be brought away from Rothschilds Fiddle. ground on the writing style it is safe to borrow that a moral is applicable. Chekhov gives Rothschilds Fiddle folk like qualities which suggest there is a moral. Although this moral is very cliched, it certainly applies to Yakov. It is not aspect live life with no regrets, rather live life so that you will hold up no regrets.If Yakov had treated Marfa be tter and not yelled at her and not ca utilize her pain he in all probability would not have been as miserable in the end as he was. But it is in like manner worth noting that some of the most beautiful music came about because of one mans suffering, and made many other lives better. Chekhov is intentionally ambiguous here, as he likely does not mean to only teach one lesson through this story. There are many lessons that can be taken away, and this is one of the beautiful things about Chekhovs writings, especially Rothschilds Fiddle.Etymologically, the word ambiguity means being able to push something from both(prenominal) ends ambo-ago and also, figuratively, to think about something in two different and even unsuitable ways (Pazzagli 1505). Chekhov has many ambiguities in his writings in order to apply much interpretation up to the reader. The reader must decide whether to feign both meanings of a statement or choose between the two. Based on which approach a reader uses, t he Weeks 3 same passage can have completely different meanings. One example of this ambiguity comes when Marfa dies.Chekhov writes that her face turned rosy with fever, unusually bright and joyful-looking In this elicit Chekhov states that Marfa is sick, and also that she was joyful. Perhaps she was just rosy from the fever, or more likely just relieved that she was finally going to be released from her dreary life of being frightened by Yakov, mistreated, and not appreciated. even up though Marfa only has a small presence in the text, she is a great pecker for Chekhov. She is used to bring up Yakovs past. Marfa says Do you bring forward litre years ago God gave us a little tyke with flaxen hair?We used always to be sitting by the river thusly, singing songs . . . under the willows, and laughing bitterly, she added The baby girl died. Yakov did not remember his baby from years ago. Yakov had shut out most of his past, and only eyeshot of profit and losses. However when Yakov later goes and sits beneath the tree and finally remembers their child, the reader is not ever sure as to whether he actually remembers the child, or if it is just a figment of his imagination. Another ambiguity is when Yakov leaves the cemetary after Marfas burial it is said that he didnt feel well.However it is never tenuous if he is physically ill, or emotionally ill. If Yakov is only emotionally ill and ends up dying from this it would indicate that Yakov is much more deeply committed to Marfa than has previously been shown. This would perpetuate the theme of loss, because if he was extremely close to his wife, then her loss is only that much more painful to him. Loss is sure the main recurring theme passim Rothschilds Fiddle. Yakov in the beginning is complaining about lost profits, and lost work time, which in hindsight seem petty, compared to the loss of his wife, and the loss of the memory of his child.After Yakovs epiphany it is apparent that he has felt remorse over th e loss of the wrong things. If he had not been so interested in money he might have spent more time with his wife, and treated better, and he would Weeks 4 have perhaps had a better relationship with her. Chekhov is said to be the draw of the stream of conscious writing style, which follows a characters thoughts. With Yakov this becomes oddly interesting after the death of Marfa because we see just how miserable his life becomes.We see Yakov sitting on the riverbank, beneath the tree just thought process back on his missed opportunities and his lost and forgotten child. Later we see just how sorrowful Yakov has become, when he is just sitting in his brink playing his fiddle, producing mournful tunes. The stream of consciousness writing style also puts emphasis on the change that takes place in Yakov. The reader sees how Yakov transforms from miserable because of his own losses, to miserable because of the loss of others. Yakov follows the pattern that many of Chekhovs characters denounce onward him, by bringing attention to Russias changing landscape.One thing that Chekhov shows subtly in most of his works was his appreciation of Russias instinctive environment (Quinault 33). Chekhov voiced his sadness at the destruction of ancient hardwood forests in his short story, Rothschilds Fiddle (1894) and, more prominently, in his major plays. (Quinalt 33). In Rothschilds Fiddle Chekhov writes On the other bank, where now there was the water meadow, in those days there stood a big birchwood, and yonder on the unmistakable hillside that could be seen on the horizon an old, old pine forest used to be a bluish patch in the distance.Big boats used to cross on the river. But now it was all smooth and unruffled, and on the other bank there stood now only one birch-tree, youthful and slender like a young lady. Even though this is only a small part of Rothschilds Fiddle it shows some of Chekhovs interests away(p) of literature. Perhaps Yakov realizes the loss of t his forest and this is just one more loss to go along with all of the other losses that have happened throughout the story. Yakov is in a depressed state throughout the story, both before Marfas death and after. Weeks 5Even though her death was the big event of the story and what made Yakov realize how miserable his life had been, it still was not becoming to release him from the feeling of misery he was trapped in. It was just becoming for him to realize how miserable his life had been before and send him deeper into depression because he realized he had lost Marfa, who was the one thing in his life he truly should have cared about. The significance of drawing this conclusion is that we see Chekhov following his usual pattern of a character being entrapped for the full-page story, and still not escaping.One ambiguity that the reader is left with is that of whether a moral can should be deduced. Since Yakov produced some of the most beautiful and sad music. Even though Yakov was in such a miserable state his whole life, his music was beautiful and brightened other lives, It can be argued that no moral was meant to be drawn from Rothschilds Fiddle. Perhaps one could go on to research Chekhov as a writer and see if he typically consciously included some style of moral in his stories. Weeks 6 Works Cited Pazzagali, Adolfo. Ambiguity. International Journal of Psychoanalysis . 3. 6 (2012) 1505-1508. Web. 31 Jan. 2013. Quinalt, Roland. Chekhov and Conservation. History Today. 60. 2 (2010) 32-34. Web. Chekhov, Anton. The Literature Network. Rothschilds Fiddle. N. p. , 10 Mar 2005. Web. 4 Feb 2013. tune I still do not have Microsoft Word and I attempted to indent my long quotes 10 spaces on GoogleDocs but I was not able to without indenting the whole paragraph that the quote was contained in. This is why I left quotations around my quotes.. If you must take off for this I understand, but if you could be a little lenient that would be great