Looking Glass - Close Reading



After first reading “The Looking Glass”, I felt that Anton Chekhov was commenting on the fragility and weakness of women, but after rereading and close reflection, I believe that he was commenting on the hope of changing social norms of women and their ability to be strong in the face of adversity.
In the beginning of the story, Nellie first sees the face of her husband and it is described as “an unutterably sweet dream”. This implies that Nellie can only be successful if she finds a man and becomes a wife, but then the tone of the story changes when just two sentences later Chekhov uses imagery of a cold winter and dark colors, implying that the sweet dream is no longer and life with her husband isn’t everything she ever wanted. While she is clearly distraught over her husband’s sickness, she begins to show signs of strength when she barges into the doctor’s home demanding him to see her husband immediately. This story was written in the late 1800s so for a woman to stand up for a man was courageous enough but add to it that she was standing up to a professional man. At the end of the story, the thought of it all being a dream is brought up again but instead of Nellie feeling joy at the thought of her husband, she feels relief at the thought of not having a husband.
During the time that this story was written, it was believed that women could only be good at being a wife and having children but I think that Chekhov was making a point to say that women should not have this as their only choice in life. I believe that giving Nellie this change in perspective from the beginning the story to the end and giving her authority and strength over the doctor during her “dream” is Anton’s insistence that women can be more than just the perfect housewife and in a strange way, I feel that he was advocating for women’s rights.



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