The Lady with the Little Dog - Essay Example

The protagonist, Dmitry Gurov, is a native of Moscow who has visited a resort in Yalta to escape his normal life.  From the first moment, we can see that he is dissatisfied with his life. He describes his life marriage with his wife as boring and he illustrates his wife as “a tall, erect woman with dark eyebrows, stately and dignified and, as she said of herself, intellectual” (Anton Chekhov’s, The Lady with the Pet Dog). Dmitry Gurov is in a loveless marriage and he does not spare his hatred for his wife and he even admits to being afraid of her.

The loveless marriage has had much negative impact on him as he has had multiple affairs. He also dreads staying at home with his wife and he even insulted her intelligence and described her as narrow – minded. . and how to behave; and he was at ease with them even when he was silent” (Chekhov) This is a contrasting characterization of a man who has had multiple affairs on numerous occasions. But, it seems that Dmitry Gurov is having affairs with women to get away from his monotonous loveless marriage.

Anna is portrayed as a depressed and happy woman who is in a loveless marriage. She is in the same situation as Dmitry as she is dissatisfied with her own, monotonous, stifled life. Anna is also looking for something better to make her feel alive, "I wanted something better’ there must be a different sort of life,' (Chekhov) Dmitry Gurov first met Anna along the boardwalk walking her white Pomeranian. Being a mischievous womanizer, he gets the opportunity to talk to her soon after their first meeting.

After short days, he charmed her and the two quickly become lovers form acquaintances. This illustrated the fact that both of them are bored with their loveless married lives. They started out as strangers and their relationship soon nurtured in to love. They both find love in each other and understood each other’s loneliness and desire for companionship. The illicit relationship brings them closure to what they have been searching for all their lives. For Dmitry, Anna brings a sweet change in him and a softening of his heart, which allows him to follow his heart for the first time.

Anna changes his hatred for women and melts his heart that allows him to love others. When he returns to Moscow, he is haunted by her and the thoughts of her raise above all the women in his life. Even though she is not physically with him anymore, the thoughts of her followed him everywhere he goes,  "Anna Sergeyevna did not visit him in his dreams, but followed him about everywhere like a shadow".