Morals and Marital Infidelity

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Recommended: How are women portrayed in literature

Writers have different motivations on why they decide on what they write about. It must be something that will grab the reader’s attention and make them want to read their works. Often writers include situations that are not considered appropriate for the era when the piece was written. Some subjects are too sexually explicit. In two such short stories, Kate Chopin’s “The Storm” and Anton Chekhov’s “The Lady with the Little Dog,” both writers chose to involve adultery in their stories. Whatever motivation there is to cheat on a spouse, there is not an acceptable reason to do it. This controversial subject was not common and both authors chose to break the rules. Although equally successful in their writings, Chopin’s “The Storm”, was not published until many years after her death.

“The Storm" is about two people, Calixta and Alcee, who had been in a previous relationship. Although both have moved on by getting married and starting a family, a chance encounter lead them to a lustrous affair. “Calixta and Alcee share a past romantic infatuation that is not consummated until the afternoon of the storm” (Milne 291). Chopin wrote this story in 1898, but it was not published at that time. “Chopin did not try to send ‘The Storm’ out to editors...It was first published in The Complete Works of Kate Chopin in 1969” (Kate), which was sixty-five years after her death. This controversial subject was not the norm in the 1890’s. “Female writers in 1898 did not write such detailed accounts of a sexual encounter...In the ease with which she wrote about human sexuality; Chopin was ahead of her time” (qtd. in Milne 296).

The chance encounter between Calixta and Alcee happened during a tremendous storm. Calixta was home alone and ...

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...). Whatever motivation there is to cheat on a spouse, there is not an acceptable reason to do it.

Works Cited

Akers, Tim. "The Lady with the Pet Dog." Short Stories for Students. Detroit: Gale, 1997. 198-214. Print.

Catherine, Dominic. “Critical Essay on ‘The Storm.’” Short Stories for Students. Detroit: Gale/Cengage Learning, 2008. 297-299. Print.

Davis, Diana. "Review of Anton Chekhov's Short Story The Lady with the Dog." Yahoo! Contributor Network. 24 Aug. 2009. Web. 05 Apr. 2012.

"Kate Chopin: Her Novels and Stories." Kate Chopin: The Awakening, The Storm, Stories, Biography. Ed. Bernard Koloski. n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2012.

Milne, Ira Mark. "The Storm." Short Stories for Students. Detroit: Gale/Cengage Learning, 2008. 288-29 Print.

Mohr, Nicole. "Passion in Kate Chopin's The Storm." Yahoo! Contributor Network. 5 May 2006. Web. 05 Apr. 2012.

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