The importance of Commitment in any relationship that one hopes will Essay

The importance of Commitment in any relationship that one hopes will last - Essay Example The role of the simplistic Gimpel in â€Å"Gimpel the Fool† is a classic example of total commitment to a relationship – in this case, to his wife Elka. The story, set in a small Jewish town, tells how a gullible Gimpel is lured into marriage with an adulterous woman who treats him with contempt and ridicule, brazenly carrying on affairs with different lovers. Gimpel suffers this humiliation, sometimes yearning to break away from the relationship (â€Å"Enough of being a donkey,† he used to chide himself, â€Å"Gimpel isn’t going to be a sucker all his life†). But sucker he chose to be, turning down the advice of the rabbi to divorce Elka (â€Å"Let her go, the harlot,† said he, â€Å"and her brood of bastards with her†). Gimpel continues to believe in his wife â€Å"What is the good of not believing? Today it’s your wife you don’t believe, tomorrow it’s God himself you won’t take stock in†), staying totally committed to her until her untimely death. Elka realizes the importance of commitment in their relationship only when she is on her death bed, when she pleads with her husband to forgive her (â€Å"Forgive me Gimpel. It was ugly how I deceived you all these years†). The wrongs that she committed, and the bad way she treated her simple but good husband, continue to plague her even after death (at the end of the story, Elka’s ghost materializes, urging Gimpel to continue in the path of righteousness). â€Å"The Lady with the Dog† is a story set in Russia. The protagonist, Dmitri Gurovm denigrates women and refers to them as â€Å"the lower race†. Unhappy with his marriage, bound to a wife â€Å"who loved without any genuine feeling†, and linked to the conventional Moscow society, he looks for diversions. He does not attach importance to commitments in various extra-marital relationships as â€Å"simple and amusing,† testimony of his â€Å"eagerness for life.† Anna