Morality Against Humanity - After reading The Student and The Lady with the Dog of Anton Chekhov

 We should be loyal; we should help others; we should tell the truth: we should be moral.

There was human on the planet earth. For some reasons, they decided to gather and live together: they created society. After that, human-made something called ‘laws’ and ‘morals’ mostly to keep public order. Although it highly varies among societies due to the unique sociocultural backgrounds, they still share some similarities which are hard to declare in a few sentences.

This social compact is never forced by divine being but by its benighted creations themselves. However, according to human nature, there is no such thing as justice, altruism, solicitude, and loyalty. At least they do not exist as an aim, but only as a mean. This nature has not changed since the birth of Adam on this planet. People are, and should be selfish to achieve their fundamental aim of survival. Why will history repeat itself? It is because, unlike the circumstances that have always changed, the essence of humanity has not.

Sometimes it is understandable for people to choose to do something that is morally wrong for their pleasure. The novels The Student and The Lady with the Dog of Anton Chekhov show how people choose to follow the immoral state of their life by the “Betrayal” with a detached and realistic narrative.

Peter in The Student had betrayed Jesus by denying him three times before the rooster crowed. Peter said he truly love Jesus and said that he is “ready to go with you to prison and to death”. Then, what made the man with a strong belief to betray the one who loved and worshipped for not once, not twice, but three times in a row? Everybody pretends to be faithful since it has always been considered noble in every society. History often contrasts past figures such as a patriotic martyr and a traitor, to praise the former for keeping the faith and reprehend the latter for being blinded by their own goods. However, in the moment of crisis, people get afraid to lose the things they’ve got and often lose faith. Although they recognize it morally wrong, the fear is hard to avoid since it is human nature. Vasilisa and her daughter, who were “able to feel what went on Peter’s heart,” is a representation of everyman who is fragile to the fear and familiar with betrayal. At least Jesus already knows the inevitable human nature.  

Betrayal is also one of the most critical and commonly used weapons in the war of love. In The Lady and The Dog, Anna and Gurov betray their original lover and enjoy adultery, forbidden love, for their true happiness. They know the affair is dangerous enough to cast them out from society if discovered. Anna expresses guilt about the fact that her relationship with Gurov make true happiness by being “pensive, always trying to force from him the admission that he did not respect her, that he did not love her a bit, and considered her just an ordinary woman.” Gurov, despite more active in the affair than Anne, he also tries to disagree the mistakenness of his act and makes justification by thinking “Every individual existence revolves around a mystery, and perhaps that is the chief reason that all cultivated individuals insisted so strongly on the respect due to personal secrets.” In this case, the intense pleasure of love makes the poor lovers get blind by the temptation of betrayal. The desire to love and pleasure is another inevitable fundamental nature of humankind.

So, can we judge the betrayal of Peter or Anne and Gurov right or wrong? Why should we prioritize the rules and morality created by the hand of human more than the basic desire given by the absolute being? It is plausible considering that ethics and laws are a promise for the better pursuit of fundamental aim through a society, and people should be obedient to take a part of it. Still, the human cannot basically define which is right or wrong. In this perspective, Peter’s fear and Anne and Gurov’s pursuit of pleasure cannot always be criticized.  

Love Affair