The Brute and other Farces by Chekhov

The Brute

"Appearances, I admit, can be deceptive. In appearance, a woman may be all poetry and romance, goddess and angel, muslin and fluff. To look at her exterior is to be transported to heaven. But I have looked at her interior, Mrs. Popov, and what did i find there- in her soul? A crocodile. And, what is more revolting, a crocodile with an illusion, a crocodile that imagines tender sentiments are its own special province, a crocodile that thinks itself queen of the realm of love!

Hilarious! What a caricature of the female! Ha! And he's not that wrong!

Thought the story was very adorable. How word can say the exact opposite of what one feels at the moment, as an attempt to hide oneself. How one's principles and beliefs can be unexpectedly shaken, just as if they never existed, and one is really the opposite of who one thinks they are. And shaken in such a glimpse of a second! As if years of principles could stand against a fraction of a moment!

The Harmfulness of Tobacco

"When she's in a bad mood,s eh calls me dumb bell. Or viper. Or Satan."

I laughed so hard when I read this- i love the emphatic sentences! This was as funny as Gogol's play. How beautifully the element of surprise is used here- to create such ironic humor. This is such a genius parody- depicting such weak men. How pathetic such men are. And i love how the quote so comically shows the weakness, of the men under tyrannical rule- their wife. They are so helpless, and so pathetic! Oh so comic! Wonderful play!

"And to stop, somewhere far away, in the middle of a field, to stand there under the wide heavens like a tree, a post, a scarecrow, and watch the bright, gentle moon overhead and forget, just forget..."

Even he was capable of fantasizing.

Swan Song

"I'm alone, like the wind in the fields."
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Goodness, Chekhov must've been such a great person to be around. Such wit and humor...Too bad he is dead.

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Pub by Grove Press