I don’t think Chekhov thought or wrote thematically or didactically. He wasn’t looking to make a point or grind an ax. Mainly he was interested in humans and human nature, exploring why a certain character might behave one way or another.
Still, there are thematic threads that work their way through the stories – big, broad themes like love, pride, jealousy and avarice.
Another common theme is hypocrisy.
“A Chameleon” is one of his explorations of hypocrisy. A police official, Otchumyelov, steps in to calm a street fight. As it turns out, the villain is a puppy, who has bitten a man’s finger. But that doesn’t deter the police superintendent. “Whose dog is it?” he demands. “I won’t let this pass. I’ll teach them to let their dogs run all over the place!”
And, just to show how serious he is, he says that the dog must be put to death without delay.
And then, an onlooker notes that the dog belongs to a General Zhigalov.
This changes everything. The superintendent suddenly feels the need to take off his coat and consider the case again. Perhaps the dog was goaded into biting the man? Indeed, given that the dog belongs to someone more powerful, this whole incident must be the bitten man’s fault!
If the story ended there, it would probably be sufficient, but it goes on – in fact, it essentially repeats itself, with Otchumyelov once again waxing authoritarian when it turns out the dog is not the general’s dog, and then immediately backing down once again when he learns that, while it is not the general’s dog, it does belong to the general’s brother.
There’s nothing quite like listening to a joke told twice to take the humor out of it, so this tale falls a little short as an entertainment (which it was surely written to be). But it nicely illustrates Chekhov’s impatience and dislike of hypocrites and liars.
READ THIS? READ THAT!
Like “A Chameleon,” the story “In An Hotel” is a nice little takedown of a hypocrite. And unlike “A Chameleon,” the joke is told just once, so it’s a better-constructed tale.
A Chekhov Circus 