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Comparing The Lady With The Dog And Before The Law

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Recommended: Comparing 2 short stories

The short story is a literary genre that has been evolving since its inception. The works of Anton Chekhov, Jorge Luis Borges, and Franz Kafka are among the most notable examples of the short story genre. In this essay, we will compare and contrast the stories "The Lady with the Dog," "The Garden of Forking Paths," and "Before the Law," and discuss how they can be used to understand the development of the short story genre. "The Lady with the Dog" is a short story written by Anton Chekhov and first published in 1899. The story follows the character of Dmitry Dmitritch Gurov, a man who is bored with his life and is looking for a change. He travels to Yalta, where he meets a woman named Anna Sergeyevna. They start an affair, which leads to a …show more content…

The story follows the character of Dr. Yu Tsun, a Chinese spy who is working for the Germans during World War I. He is given a mission to locate and destroy a secret British artillery park. However, he is captured by the British, and the story follows his attempt to escape while reflecting on the nature of time and the possibilities of multiple futures. "Before the Law" is a short story written by Franz Kafka and first published in 1915. The story follows the character of a man who seeks entrance to the law but is denied access by a gatekeeper. The man spends his entire life waiting for permission to enter, but the gatekeeper continually denies him access. The story is a commentary on the absurdity of bureaucracy and the futility of the human condition. One of the most significant developments in the short story genre is the emergence of the psychological aspect of character development. This is exemplified in "The Lady with the Dog." Chekhov's story depicts the inner struggles of Dmitry, who initially views his affair with Anna as a meaningless fling. However, as the story progresses, Dmitry realizes that he has fallen in love with Anna and that their relationship is more than just a temporary distraction from his mundane life. This psychological depth is a hallmark of Chekhov's writing, and it has since become an essential aspect of the short story …show more content…

This is demonstrated in "The Garden of Forking Paths." Borges' story follows a non-linear narrative, with the protagonist reflecting on the possibilities of multiple futures. The story's structure reflects the complexity of the human experience and the many paths that life can take. This narrative experimentation has since become a staple of the short story genre, with authors often using unconventional structures to explore the themes and motifs of their works. Finally, the short story genre has evolved to incorporate existential and absurdist themes. This is exemplified in Kafka's "Before the Law." The story's protagonist spends his entire life waiting for permission to enter the law, but he is denied access by the gatekeeper. The story reflects the absurdity of bureaucracy and the human condition, where individuals are often denied access to the very things they seek. This existentialist perspective has since become an essential aspect of the short story genre, with many authors exploring the human experience through the lens of absurdity and

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Gurov is an example of a person with multiple sides to him. Chekhov writes about Gurov: “He began to feel an overwhelming desire to share his memories with someone. But he could not speak of his love at home, and outside his home who was there for him to confide in?” (Chekhov 472). Because everybody in Yalta knew he was married, he could not tell anybody about his feelings toward Anna.

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The memories and the dreams did not stop rather it progressed; “then his memories passed into dreams, and in his fancy the past was mingled with what was to come. Anna Sergeyevna did not visit him in dreams but followed him about everywhere like a shadow and haunted him” (179). According to the story Gurov hardly communicates with his fellow men because " In the society of men he was bored and not himself, with them he was cold and uncommunicative” (172). Gurov changed his lifestyle by being more in the company of men. He was hunted by the love of Anna that he could not resist telling an official in the doctor’s club, "If only you knew what a fascinating woman I made the acquaintance of in Yalta!"

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“Master and Man” (1895) is a short story by Russian author Leo Tolstoy. Tolstoy is widely ranked among the greatest writers of all time with such classics as War and Peace (1869), Anna Karenina (1877), and the novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886). His output also includes plays and essays. In “Master and Man,” Vasili Andreevich Brekhunov, a landowner, departs from the village of Kresty for a short journey with Nikita, one of his peasants.

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