Love and dependence are intimately intertwined throughout “The Darling.” This was also true in the 19th century, a time when men were expected to provide and make decisions for women, while women were expected to care for children. Chekhov published the story at the end of this period, but love and dependence is reflected broadly in Russian and European literature of that era. The two kinds of love the story examines—romantic and maternal—both had deep social implications. Mothers were expected to stay home for their children, which meant giving up their (already limited) prospects of a career and sacrificing their own independence. Similarly, romantic love was subordinate to economic considerations in which love was founded on a stable marriage; the husband earned income through work or property, while the wife stayed home. Under Russian law, a husband would also inherit his wife’s property the moment they married, removing any independent source of income she might have had. In both forms of love, the woman’s interests were subordinate because she became dependent on her husband.

“The Darling” doesn’t directly address the socio-economic aspects of love and dependence, referring to them obliquely while concentrating on the psychological aspects of how these two ideas relate.