Anton Chekov vs. Joyce Carol

Anton Chekov vs. Joyce Carol Oates

The Lady With [Someone's] Pet Dog

In 1899 Anton Chekov, one of the masters of Russian literature, wrote a short story called "The Lady with the Pet Dog," a tale of adultery and the stifling nature of life in the Russian bourgeoisie. Almost a century later in 1972, Joyce Carol Oates retold the story from a modern and American female point-of-view, giving it the same title. Comparing Anna (the female protagonist) in these two stories, one might expect to find a wealth of differences highlighting the unique characteristics of Russian and American culture. Instead, one finds that the characters are remarkably alike, and that if anything the American Anna is more retiring, passive, and unassertive than her Russian counterpart. The similarities between them are striking, and one seems to suspect that the differences between them are less based on culture and era than on point-of-view, as Anna in the first telling is presented from the man's perspective while in the second she is presented from her own.

There are of course some obvious and primarily surface differences between the two Annas. Chekov's Anna is Russian, whereas Oates's Anna is American. This leads to some very basic cultural differences, such as the former needing to lie to her husband in order to go on vacation alone, while the latter needs only to explain how she needs time away. Another minor difference is that in the earlier story the Lady with the pet dog was Anna herself, whereas in the second story the lady with the pet dog was, assumably, her lover's wife's dog which she herself only held briefly while her picture was being drawn. Having a dog of one's own, to which one is attached enough to bring it with one everywhere, says something about a person, both in terms of the way they relate to others and the stability which they themselves have.

There are also obvious differences in the way in which her relationship with her lover functions. For example, in Chekov's telling, Anna is the one who is approached by the man who has designs on her. In Oates' telling, Anna actually makes the first move to approach the man. Though Anna takes the first initiative in Oates' story, she does not do it with admitted plans to have an affair (unlike her lover in Chekov's version). When the early affair is being broken off, Chekov's Anna is the one who initiates the end of the affair with her need to return home. This is paralleled in Oates' telling, except that at the last minute Anna cries that "I don't want to go back." (Oates, 229) Despite this momentary hesitation, the latter-day Anna is not as eager as her Russian counterpart to resume the affair. In Chekov's version, Anna immediately promises, "I swear I'll come to Moscow..." (Chekov, 222) in Oates' version, she demurs longer, and even then she does not actively seek him out, but rather he comes to her home town and arranges for the hotel -- she must only meet him there. In fact, at one point she tells him "I want to be free of you" (Oates, 237) and both seem to admit that it is she who is unwilling to leave her husband. So it seems that the Russian Anna is actually more dedicated to the affair, though less eager to pursue it in the beginning.

Despite these differences, there are also many similarities between the two. The plot similarities are obvious, including the fact that both have affairs beginning and continuing in similar circumstances. Both have husbands that they do not wish to leave, partly out of habit and partly out of pity. They compartmentalize their lives and are able to think of themselves as somehow different people when with their husbands and with their lovers. In this, as in their inability to choose a partner, to overcome their fear and guilt and shame, or to find something in their lives that makes them truly happy, both of these Annas are very ineffectual and weak. In both cases there is a sense of guilt and shame associated with the affair, even though in the Russian Anna's case this sense of shame is far greater than in the modern Anna's. She obsesses constantly on her shame and her fear that the man will no longer respect her: "You don't respect me now... I have become a vulgar, vile woman whom anyone may despise." (Chekov, 216) the American Anna, while still feeling the same shame, seems to think that it is shared equally with her partner in adultery: "she felt a declaration of shame between them." (Oates, 228)