Love and marriage in Dostoevsky's Short Stories

The relation between love and marriage is shown in various ways in different cultures and time periods. Starting from courtly love to Romanticism, Western culture has experienced a gap between love and marriage, the first: vital experience subject to permanent fluctuations, the second: fixed and lasting social institution. According to this approach, these two realities are conflicting. Also in Dostoevsky's minor works, Short Stories, love and marriage do not merge. The author chooses characters that are often either wretches both from a social and a spiritual point of view or dreamers; in any case, they are unable to cultivate a true love. Actually, their marriages are only matters of convenience and interest, and married life is not fruitful in any of these affairs. The author seems to show, by contrast, the absolute need we have to give a true meaning to our acts, because loveless marriage is just an appearance of good that hides unhappiness