The Theme Of Assumptions In The Devil By Leo Tolstoy

The ability to observe different varieties of things on a daily basis is a huge part of everyone’s lives. The power of the individual mind comes from its capacity to apply these observations, which may sometimes incorporate some misconceptions that result in dire repercussions. In “The Devil,” Leo Tolstoy tells the story of Evgeny Irtenev, a young man who finds himself in a position of relentless lust after inheriting his father’s country estate. Before finding the right woman to marry as well as being accustomed to readily available sexual services, Evgeny arranges numerous encounters with a married peasant woman, who he continues to see until he meets his prospective wife. After being in a perceivably happy marriage for more than a year,

For Evgeny, he assumes many things about the feelings of both Liza and Stepanida. In fact, rarely are Stepanida’s point of views ever shown in the story. When the affair began, Evgeny thought Stepanida’s husband to be “a poor sort” (173). The reason for this assumption was that he could not fathom why Stepanida would agree to be a prostitute if her husband was well off. He thought that surely, because she is a woman, she could not possibly be committing these acts out of desire. After asking Stepanida about her husband, she says, “there’s not another like him in the village” (174). So, when Evgeny sees that her husband is rather a fine man and how much pride she has in him, his feelings of confusion arise. As for Lisa, all of her feelings in the story revolve around Evgeny. Even from the beginning she describes that, “…She had no other thoughts than him, no other desires than to be with him, to love him and be loved by him“ (176). Evgeny did not marry Liza because of how he loved her character, and he married her because as he mentions “…[he] was ripe for marriage. He fell in love with her because he knew he would marry” (175). Evgeny married Liza because of the idea of marriage, which he assumed would make him happy and cause him to no longer desire Stepanida. But, when Evgeny realizes that he was not entirely content with his marriage, his confusion becomes evident when his

Throughout the story, Evgeny assumes many things about both Stepanida and Liza. Assumptions are mainly made about their physical, mental, and social stature. Physically, Stepanida is described more sexually than Liza, who is described as somewhat ordinary. Mentally, Stepanida’s voice is never heard and is rather stifled by Evgeny’s. Liza however, does not seem to have thoughts of anything other than her husband. Socially, Stepanida is considered of much lower stature than the other characters. Since she is a female peasant, treating her as an object is seemingly acceptable. Conversely, Liza is never seen as a disposable object, even if like Stepanida, she is also of lower stature than Evgeny. Overall, Evgeny constantly looks for a way to deal with Stepanida as to not ruin his marriage with Liza. He repeatedly chooses, instead of taking responsibility, to place the blame on Stepanida for merely being there. Generally, the views of the female characters seem to be rather muffled by the males’, thus presenting the idea of women perceivably being under man’s