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¶ … Lady with the Dog" by Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov's short story, entitled, "The Lady with the Dog," is a love story between the two main characters, Dmitri Gurov and Anna Sergeyevna, and the struggle that they experienced as they try to prevent their affair from happening, especially since they are already married and have their own respective families to live with. In addition to their love story, the primary focus of the story is the illustration of the development of Dmitri Gurov's character. Dmitri's development as the main character in the story can be illustrated through a study and analysis of his life and outlook in life before, during, and after he met Anna Sergeyevna, referred to in the story as the 'lady with the dog.'
The first analysis of Dmitri Gurov's character can be seen in his life before he met Anna, and this is found in Chapter 1 of the story. Dmitri Gurov is introduced in the story as an already married man, and has one daughter and two sons from his marriage. Dmitri's life is full of treachery and boredom, mainly because he lives with a woman whom he does not love, and has a profession...
The following passage from the short story illustrates how Dmitri's life can be described as 'lifeless,' as if Dmitri had no life to live at all. Chekhov tells his readers: "In the society of men he was bored and not himself, with them he was cold and uncommunicative; but when he was in the company of women he felt free... " but Chekhov also tells his readers that Dmitri "... every intimacy, which at first so agreeably diversifies life and appears a light and charming adventure, inevitably grows into a regular problem of extreme intricacy, and in the long run the situation becomes unbearable." These passages tells us that before meeting with Anna, Dmitri is a bored man who finds relief from boredom through adultery, but his relationship with other women also becomes 'unbearable' for him, since Dmitri seem to look at women as 'temporary relief' from his dreary and boring life. Thus, Dmitri Gurov is shown as an irresolute and heartless man who finds women as mere commodities to suit his need to experience fun and excitement in…
Reference
Chekhov, Anton. E-text of "The Lady with the Dog." 2000. Short Stories Web site. 24 February 2003 http://www.geocities.com/short_stories_page/index.html.
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
In other words, his transformation was not based on any kind of moral or ethical epiphany regarding the sinfulness of deceit and adultery, but rather on the simple fact that he happened to fall in love with one woman. Gurov had always pursued his desires with a vengeance; it was just that up until this point in time, he had never really experienced true love. He ultimately did not
Lady With the Pet Dog According to Vladimir Nabokov, "The Lady with the Pet Dog" is referred to be one of the greatest stories ever written. The story was published in 1899, revealing a symbolic suitability according to the era. Chekhov, who was to die within five years, is revealed in the story as reinventing the form for the 20th century. In the context of this short tale, Gurov experiences an
Chekhov likened his characters to a child who is just starting to understanding a new concept and meaning of love, leading him to further evaluate himself not just as a lover to Anna, but as a man and individual as he appears to Anna and other people: He had two lives: one, open, seen and known by all who cared to know…and another life running its course in secret… everything
The subtlety of their actions make their affair all the more romantic, because, set in the real world, who would consider the actions of two people committing adultery as romantic? Thus, a closer look at how love is given meaning by Dmitri and Anna opens the reader's eyes to the realization that one need not be verbalize or explicitly show his or her feelings in order to feel that
He is identified as follows in the story: "...he had not so much moved through his life as wandered through it, his spirit like a dazed body bumping into furniture and corners. He had always been a fearful father..." This depiction of Matt shows how his love for his family has become a weakness for him, for there is always a fear in him that he will fail as