Respect
Respectability is a very important aspect in relationships between men and women. The dictionary displays three different meanings of the word respectable; (1) Meriting respect or esteem; worth, (2) of or appropriate to good or proper behavior or conventional conduct, (3) of good quality. These are all appropriate to describe a woman who values the vow of her marriage and remains faithful to her husband through whatever temptation may be thrown in her direction. In Kate Chopin’s “ A Respectable Woman,” Mrs. Baroda truly earned the title of respectable woman, as opposed to Anna Sergeyevna in Anton Chekhov’s “The Lady With the Pet Dog”. These two women handled similar situations in completely different manners. Mrs. Baroda conquered temptation and displayed how strong her love for her husband truly was, while Anna Sergeyevna yielded to her desires and fell into the arms of another man, with no regard for her husband. Mrs. Baroda was able to surpress her true feelings for Gouvernail because she was married. Despite the physical attraction she had for him, she ignored them because she valued her husband’s feelings. Mrs. Baroda knew that if she acted on her impulses and pursued Gouvernail it would ultimitely be the downfall of her marriage.