Chekhov's "The Bear"

Today, I'll be writing about A.P. Chekhov's "The Bear." Soon, I will be participating in a play of this piece, and I suppose writing is a part of the arts, so this works...

The basic story is that Elena Popova, a young widow, had been in mourning for 7 months after her husband died. A young man (a single man), shows up at her house, and tells her that her husband was in debt and requests that she pay him immediately. She doesn't have the money, so she states that he must wait until the day after tomorrow, when her servant will return from the city with some money. He cannot wait, since he must pay taxes the next day. They continue to argue, and (obviously) she gets mad and starts to treat him in less polite ways. He challenges her to a duel, and she agrees. While Popova goes to get her husband's guns, Smirnov, the man, realizes how great a woman Popova is. He immediately falls in love with her. (Obviously, the duel is cancelled.) She also falls in love with him.

For the readers who are not happy enough with my summary, an English version can be found at http://method.vtheatre.net/doc/bear.html

I find it very interesting that Popova is able to change her mind so quickly. In the beginning, she is sure that she will never betray her husband, talks about how he was unfair to her, and how she will stay loyal to him. As soon as Smirnov arrives, she begins to change her mind. She falls in love with him much faster than she actually admits it or shows it, in my opinion. I think that she actually exaggerates how unloyal her husband was to her, only to get Smirnov to like her more. Smirnov also promised himself 5 years ago that he would not fall in love again, since he had been in 3 duels over women, he dumped 12 women, 9 dumped him. He was still able to easily fall in love with Popova.

Also, Smirnov and Popova are very different. Smirnov used to be an army commander, Popova... wasn't. I suppose it's true what they say about opposites attracting...