THE BEAR BY ANTON CHEKHOV

"Luka, tell them ---------- oats all to-day".

REFERENCE

(i) Play: The Bear

(ii) Playwright: Anton Chekhov

CONTEXT

(i) Occurrence: Last line of the play

(ii) Content: Popova, a dowager, is visited by Smirnov, a creditor of her late husband. She is not in a position to repay the loan. The situation advances in such a manner that they are ready to fight with pistols. But later, they are engaged in love-making. 

EXPLANATION

     This sentence is spoken by the heroine of the play, Popova. She utters it when Luka and other servants come to beat Smirnov with different tools. It shows that she has begun to like Smirnov and despise Mihailovitvh, her late husband. When Popova loved her late husband, she also loved his favourites. Thus Toby was not only the favourite horse of Mihailovitch but also of Popova. In the beginning of the play she says to Luka, "Tell them to give him(Toby) an extra feed of oats". But now Popova has become very cruel to Toby. "Extra feed of oats" has reduced to "no feed of oats". It means her love for Mihailovitch has evaporated and the cloud of vapours is raining on Smirnov. Thus she proves;

Frailty, thy name is woman!

                                          (William Shakespeare)
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