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The Lady with a Pet Dog was written by Anton Chekhov during the
time period of 1860-1904. Anton Chekhov was a born in a small town in
Russia and is greatly appreciated for his works. He gave up his career
in medicine in order to completely devote himself to writing. It is
said that, in the history of short story writing, no other short story
writer except Anton Chekhov has better expressed its often invisible
complexities. His realistic style of writing has acted as an important
influence on fiction writing.
In the story The Lady with a Pet Dog, Gurov and Anna fall in love
and want to be with each other for their remaining lives. But there was no point for them to carry on a relationship. Gurov should
have treated Anna as another woman in his life and should have just let
her go. When Gurov gets back to Moscow he gets on with his life and has
a family to be with, but Anna has no one to be with and she really
hates her husband. Gurov used to refer to women as the inferior race
and should have let her go too as he let all the other woman in his
life. Their love, rather than giving them happiness, makes both of them
more miserable. It does not make Gurov all that miserable since he's
got his children to be with but Anna's life becomes miserable since she
has no one to be with.
Dimitry Dimitrich Gurov a native of Moscow meets the young charming
lady, Anna Sergeyenva in Yalta, a famous tourist attraction in Russia.
Gurov is trapped in a married life and always seems to run away from
it. He is unfaithful to his wife and hates being at home with his
family and considers his wife to be of limited intelligence. Anna is
also trapped in married life and runs away from it as much as she can.
She calls her husband a 'flunkey' and does not even know what he does.
She tells Gurov that she was twenty when she married him and after
marriage she realizes that she wants something better. She tells him
that she wanted to live, and to runaway from him she makes up an excuse
of being ill and comes to Yalta.
Anna Sergeyenva is a lady with high conscience and has a lot of
respect for herself. She is a loyal person and loyal to her husband all
the time although she does not love him. When Gurov kisses her for the
first time, she feels very guilty and treats it as her fall. She
considers the matter very seriously and feels as if she has become
evil. She tells Gurov that he does not respect her. She really repents
what she does and feels that by letting Gurov kiss her. She feels that
any man can kiss her and she is no longer pure, but has committed an
evil act. Before Anna leaves for S_____, she is already in love with
Gurov. Just when the express is about to move she looks at Gurov again
and again and tells him that she will be thinking about him all the
time. At this moment we realize that she really loves him and blames
their parting all on fate. Gurov is not in love with her, although he
is sad after the express leaves the station. He feels that he is going
to forget her just like the other women he had in his life before her.
At this point Gurov should have completely forgotten Anna and let her
go and carry on her normal life and just treat it as a passing phase.
When Gurov goes back to Moscow and starts working in the bank and
carries on his daily routine, he realizes that he is in love with Anna.
Earlier he thinks that he will forget her as time passes but he ends up
falling in love with her even more deeply. When he hears an organ or
music playing in the restaurant, or the storm howling in the chimney,
all the beautiful moments he had spend with Anna would rise up in his
memory and make him restless. 'He did not dream of her but she followed
with him everywhere and watched him'. (Chekhov 191) He could not sleep
at night and had a head ache the next day. His desire to be with Anna
was not only sexual because he just does not miss kissing her but
misses all the beautiful moments he had spent with her. When he closes
his eyes, he sees her and imagines himself to be a finer man than he
is. He used to look for women who used to resemble her. Gurov now must
talk about his personal life and the way he feels to someone else but
cannot do that. In the 18th century after being married talking about
another woman was considered to be a sin. Since Gurov was already
married would have labeled him as an evil man and the society would
have condemned him.
In his holidays when Gurov takes a trip to S____, he puts a lot of
things at risk. A small mistake by him could have ruined both their
lives. He is taking a very big step because in the 18th century
marriage was considered to be sacred and a married man or a married
woman being with some other man or woman was considered to be evil. At
that moment the culture was more conservative regarding marriage. Gurov
is madly in love with Anna and takes walks outside her house everyday
thinking that one day he will see her. When Anna sees Gurov in the
theatre I feel that she is really surprised and really did not want to
see him and be away from him as much as possible. She is completely
shocked and does not know how to react. "She glanced at him and turned
pale, then looked at him again in horror; unable to believe her eyes,
and gripped the fan and the lorgnette tightly together in her hands,
evidently trying to keep herself from fainting."(Chekhov 195)
Gurov should have let Anna go they moment they parted in Yalta. Anna
who after leaving Yalta thought that she would never see Gurov was
completely shocked on seeing him. She must want to never see him and
never remember the beautiful moments she had spent with Gurov. Their
love makes Gurov a better and finer man but it makes Anna's life more
miserable and painful. It was too late for them to start this
relationship and after starting it carrying it on was even tougher
since they both were already married. Although they met every two to
three months it created more tension rather than gave happiness. Once
when Anna comes down to Moscow and Gurov is late in coming to see her,
she gets really upset and starts crying. Although Gurov is twice her
age he still loves her and for the first time in his life, he finds
true love.
Their was no point for them to hide like thieves and carry on the
relationship. They feel that they can find a way but there is no other
option except running away or telling their respective husbands and
wife the truth. In moments of depression Gurov consoled himself with
any argument that came into his head but he himself could not find a
way of being with her. He was stuck in a situation where he could not
leave his wife and could not be with his love too. Anna found herself
in the same situation. It was better for both of them to end there
relationship before they were getting more and more attached to each
other. "Give it up now my darling," he said. "You've had your cry; that
s enough. Let us have a talk now, we'll think up something."(Chekhov
198)They loved each other and did not think about their pasts but at
the same time could not find a way to be together in the future. Their
relationship was a no win situation and it was better to end it as soon
as possible rather than carrying it out and making it a joke. Chekhov
has left the ending of the story open as it is for the characters to
decide what they would like to do. He has left it for us to come to a
conclusion about the story. If I was Gurov I would have ended the
situation long back and tried to stay happy like I was before I met
with Anna.
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