KAMEELEONChameleon – by Anton Chekhov The master story teller, Anton Chekhov, was a keen observer of humankind. He knew its beautiful and noble aspects. Precisely because of this, he was acutely aware of the depth of depravity into which humankind has fallen. ‘Literature gives me the feeling of being at home in life.’ told some philosopher. Anton Chekhov’s short stories will definitely make you feel at home in the world. In the fast paced life of the twenty first century, it is not possible to read big volumes of books for busy people. But they can read short stories of Chekhov. You will get the feeling that you listening to a noble mind. Now to the story at hand- chameleon. We say that the chameleon changes colour every moment. And it changes the colour of its skin so that it corresponds to the colour of the surroundings. This helps the creature to hoodwink its enemies and protect itself. Otherwise it will become their prey. This is one of the numerous wonders of nature and creation. That is the instinct of self-preservation of life. But when it comes to the human beings, the instinct of self preservation extends beyond a limit and takes bizarre proportions. There is a distinction between the humans and the rest of the animal world. That distinction is in the sphere of the human values, principles, ethics and morality. When man compromises on these for his narrow interests he is compared to chameleon, though it does not do justice to the chameleon. Like all comparisons, this too suffers from a limitation. But it makes us understand the phenomenon. So Anton Chekhov aptly named the story as ‘Chameleon.’ A police inspector and a constable are walking through a deserted market place. Suddenly they hear the squealing sound of a puppy and a man coming behind with a dog bitten finger. And a crowd gathers from nowhere. So the ‘guardians of law go to enforce order’. The man bit by the dog requests the inspector to get compensation from the owner of the dog who has let it roam freely. The inspector agrees. Meanwhile some one from the crowd says that the dog belongs to General Zhigalov. Immediately the inspector starts rebuking the man bit by the dog and praises the dog and its beauty. Then the constable tells that he has seen the dogs of the General and it can not be his dog. The inspector returns to his old position and exhorts the man to get due compensation. Finally the cook of the General enters the scene and tells it is the dog of the General’s brother. Now the inspector cringes and tells the cook to tell the General’s brother that it was the inspector who saved the dog and handed it over to the cook to safely send it to its owner. The story is quite a short and simple one. But only Anton Chekhov could have told it in the way it is told. The setting is a market place, open but almost deserted save one police inspector and constable walking along with ‘a sieve filled to the brim with confiscated gooseberries’. When Anton Chekhov further says ‘There was not a soul in the market place… The open doors of small shops and taverns gaped drearily out at God’s world, like so many hungry jaws.’, we can see corruption as well as a criticism of the ‘market place’ where all souls have been sold out for money, to the mammon, and the insatiable hunger for profit of the market place. This way every sentence is loaded with meaning. But at the same time, the story is racy and quite readable. You don’t have to be a scholar to enjoy it. It does not matter even if one does not understand the nuances.

DAAM KOERAKESEGA

Dmitri Gurov is a Moscow banker, married with a daughter and two sons. Unhappy in his marriage, he is frequently unfaithful, and considers women to be of “an inferior breed”. While vacationing in Yalta, he sees a young lady walking along the seafront with her small dog, and endeavors to make her acquaintance. The lady, Anna Sergeyevna, was also vacationing while her husband remained at home in an unnamed provincial town. They soon are engaged in an affair, and spending most of their time together walking and taking drives to nearby Oreanda. Though she is expecting her husband to come to Yalta, he eventually sends for her to come home, saying something is wrong with his eyes. Gurov sees her off at the station.

Returning to Moscow and his daily routine, working by day and clubbing by night, he expects to soon forget young Anna but finds he is haunted by her memory. On the ruse of going to St. Petersburg to take care of some business, he sets off to her town to find her. Learning the location of the family’s residence from a hotel porter, he finds the house, only to realize it would be futile to intrude. In despair, he reasons that Anna has probably forgotten him and found someone else, and heads back to his hotel for a long nap.

In the evening, he remembers having seen a sign earlier promoting a performance of The Geisha. Reasoning that Anna and her husband may attend the first performance, he goes to the theater. The couple enters and he watches intently. When the husband goes out for a smoke during the first interval, Gurov greets Anna, who is bewildered and runs from him. After following her through the theater, he confronts her and she confides that she has been thinking of him constantly. Frightened, she begs him to leave and promises to come to see him in Moscow.

She makes excuses to come to Moscow, telling her husband she is going there to see a doctor, which he "believes and does not believe". Gurov realizes that for the first time in his life he has actually fallen in love, and wonders how they can continue. While they talk of finding a plan, the story ends without a resolution.

INIMENE VUTLARIS

The story is told of Byelikov, "the man in a case." Byelikov, the Greek teacher at a provincial school, was extraordinarily orderly both in his personal and professional lives. A strict disciplinarian, he never made exceptions to the rules. He always did things the proper way, determined to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.

Although he and his colleagues had nothing to speak about, he would regularly visit each one of them because it was the accepted thing to do. Every time something slightly irregular came up, Byelikov would cry, "Oh, how I hope it doesn't reach the ears of the authorities!" Naturally, the other teachers hated him.

At one point, Byelikov became enamored of Varinka, the sister of Kovalenko, a new teacher at the school. Everyone encouraged this relationship, hoping that marriage would moderate Byelikov. However, someone drew a humorous caricature of Byelikov and Varinka.

Then, Byelikov saw Varinka and her brother bicycling in the park. Outraged, Byelikov went to the brother to complain about this scandalous behavior, but Kovalenko pushed him down the steps. Byelikov than became depressed, took to his bed, and died, thereby truly becoming a man in a box (i.e. a coffin).

PALAT NR 6

Selles novellis on vaatluse all aktiivse ja passiivse eluhoiaku probleem, argikurjuse vastu võitlemise mõttekus ja mõttetus. Tegevus toimub Venemaa kolkalinnas, haigla räpases koolimajas, vaimuhaigete palatis nr. 6.Koridoris rämpsuhunnikul lesib valvur Nikita, käsutäitja ja nürimeelne erusoldat. Haiglat juhib juba 20 aastat doktor Ragin, paljulugenud, tark, pehmeloomuline ja intelligentne arst. Pehmeloomuline Ragin mõistab kõike, ent ei oska ega tahagi midagi muuta. Ta elab pessimistlikult ja rahulikult, kuni kohtumiseni vaimuhaige Gromoviga palatis nr.6. Gromovi arukus ja õilsus kutsub Raginit sageli temaga vestlema ja arutlema. Ta püüab meest veenda, et maailma on võimatu muuta. Raginile saavad visiidid palatisse saatuslikuks. Tema abi, võhik arst Hobotov, kes unistab Ragini ametikohast, levitab kuuldust, et Ragin on hulluks läinud ja saavutab lõpuks tema paigutamise palatisse. Ta püüab ka palatist pääseda, kuid valvur virutab talle rusikaga näkku. Järgmisel päeval suri ta ajurabandusse.Tsehhovi mõte, et elu koledusi „mitte teada“ tähendab nendega leppida, aga leppida tähendab kaasa aidata.

KAJAKAS

Act I

The play takes place on a country estate owned by Sorin, a former government employee with failing health. He is the brother of the famous actress Arkadina, who has just arrived at the estate with her lover, Trigorin, for a brief vacation. In Act I, the people staying at Sorin's estate gather to see an unconventional play that Arkadina's son Konstantin has written and directed. The play-within-a-play stars Nina, a young girl who lives on a neighboring estate, as the "soul of the world." The play is his latest attempt at creating a new theatrical form, and resembles a dense symbolist work. Arkadina laughs at the play, finding it ridiculous and incomprehensible, while Konstantin storms off in disgrace. Act I also sets up the play's many romantic triangles. The schoolteacher Medvedenko loves Masha, the daughter of the estate's steward. Masha, in turn, is in love with Konstantin, who is in love with Nina. When Masha tells the kindly old doctor Dorn about her longing, he helplessly blames the moon and the lake for making everybody feel romantic.

Act II

Act II takes place in the afternoon outside of the estate, a few days later. After reminiscing about happier times, Arkadina engages the house steward Shamrayev in a heated argument and decides to leave immediately. Nina lingers behind after the group leaves, and Konstantin shows up to give her a seagull that he has shot. Nina is confused and horrified at the gift. Konstantin sees Trigorin approaching, and leaves in a jealous fit. Nina asks Trigorin to tell her about the writer's life. He replies that it is not an easy one. Nina says that she knows the life of an actress is not easy either, but she wants more than anything to be one. Trigorin sees the seagull that Konstantin has shot and muses on how he could use it as a subject for a short story: "A young girl lives all her life on the shore of a lake. She loves the lake, like a seagull, and she's happy and free, like a seagull. But a man arrives by chance, and when he sees her, he destroys her, out of sheer boredom. Like this seagull." Arkadina calls for Trigorin and he leaves as she tells him that she has changed her mind, and they will not be leaving immediately. Nina lingers behind, enthralled with Trigorin's celebrity and modesty, and she gushes, "My dream!"

Act III

Act III takes place inside the estate, on the day when Arkadina and Trigorin have decided to depart. Between acts Konstantin attempted suicide by shooting himself in the head, but the bullet only grazed his skull. He spends the majority of Act III with his scalp heavily bandaged. Nina finds Trigorin eating breakfast and presents him with a medallion that proclaims her devotion to him using a line from one of Trigorin's own books: "If you ever need my life, come and take it." She retreats after begging for one last chance to see Trigorin before he leaves. Arkadina appears, followed by Sorin, whose health has continued to deteriorate. Trigorin leaves to continue packing. There is a brief argument between Arkadina and Sorin, after which Sorin collapses in grief. He is helped off by Medvedenko. Konstantin enters and asks his mother to change his bandage. As she is doing this, Konstantin disparages Trigorin and there is another argument. When Trigorin reenters, Konstantin leaves in tears. Trigorin asks Arkadina if they can stay at the estate. She flatters and cajoles him until he agrees to return to Moscow. After she has left, Nina comes to say her final goodbye to Trigorin and to inform him that she is running away to become an actress, against her parents' wishes. They kiss passionately and make plans to meet again in Moscow.

Act IV

Act IV takes place during the winter two years later, in the drawing room that has been converted to Konstantin's study. Masha has finally accepted Medvedenko's marriage proposal, and they have a child together, though Masha still nurses an unrequited love for Konstantin. Various characters discuss what has happened in the two years that have passed: Nina and Trigorin lived together in Moscow for a time until he abandoned her and went back to Arkadina. Nina never achieved any real success as an actress, and is currently on a tour of the provinces with a small theatre group. Konstantin has had some short stories published, but is increasingly depressed. Sorin's health is failing, and the

people at the estate have telegraphed for Arkadina to come for his final days. Most of the play's characters go to the drawing room to play a game of bingo. Konstantin does not join them, and spends this time working on a manuscript at his desk. After the group leaves to eat dinner, Konstantin hears someone at the back door. He is surprised to find Nina, whom he invites inside. Nina tells Konstantin about her life over the last two years. She starts to compare herself to the seagull that Konstantin killed in Act II, then rejects that and says "I am an actress." She tells him that she was forced to tour with a second-rate theatre company after the death of the child she had with Trigorin, but she seems to have a newfound confidence. Konstantin pleads with her to stay, but she is in such disarray that his pleading means nothing. She embraces Konstantin, and leaves. Despondent, Konstantin spends two minutes silently tearing up his manuscripts before leaving the study. The group reenters and returns to the bingo game. There is a sudden gunshot from off-stage, and Dorn goes to investigate. He returns and takes Trigorin aside. Dorn tells Trigorin to somehow get Arkadina away, for Konstantin has just killed himself.[5]