Introduction
Russian literature has given the world many great writers, such as Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Chekhov. Despite the preservation of special local specifics, their texts carry universal problems and truths for all mankind. This essay will be based on Anton Chekhov’s story “The Lady with the Dog.” In the example of the story’s main character, Dmitri Gurov, the problems of moral choices in relation to their marital fidelity and irresistible love will be revealed. The main thesis is that characters who see the truth and refuse to embrace the truth will suffer consequences.
Biography of Gurov
Dmitri Gurov is a married man under 40 who has three children. The peculiarity of Chekhov’s images, which distinguishes him from other Russian contemporaries, is that the characters are described in an extremely realistic way, with all their hidden passions, problems, and negative traits. It is vividly seen in Gurov’s relationships with his wife, whom he considers “shallow, narrow-minded, and dowdy” (Chekhov, I). In addition, Gurov began to deceive his wife for quite a long time before meeting his new lover. Therefore, his family relationships are built on insincerity and great indifference to each other. As for the children, they are mentioned only twice in the story, which may be Chekhov’s deliberate move to show how insignificant a role they played for Gurov. Realizing the impossibility of divorce without loss of reputation in Russia in the late 19th century, Gurov was still unable to limit his passion even for the well-being of his children.
After the story about the family, one should tell in detail about Gurov’s “second life” – his passion for women. Chekhov continues to develop the image of a “man in a case,” that is, a constant change from the case of family life to the case of secret meetings with women. Although Gurov loved to be in the company of women, he considered them as “the lower race” (Chekhov, I). It is the essence of his philosophy on women – to perceive them as tools for his pleasure but not as a subject of human relations. However, the second main character of the story, Anna Sergeyevna, highly shook his internal perceptions. When he saw her, he wanted to establish a continuous liaison, although he continued to be highly biased toward women.
The Affair
The central storyline of Chekhov’s text is the description of the relationships between Dmitri Gurov and Anna Sergeyevna. At some point, she realized how her deeds were wrong: “[she] seemed to regard the affair as something very special, as if she had become a fallen woman, an attitude he found odd and disconcerting” (Chekhov, II). In fact, the hidden relations with Gurov ruined her life and destroyed her belief in family trust and faithfulness. At the same time, Gurov completely destroyed the well-being of his family because all three children were left without their father’s love and care. Thus, it is evident that he should not undertake such thoughtless actions.
After Dmitri and Anna parted, a period of awareness began that their meeting had made a turning point for both. Dmitri could not return both to his family and to his normal idle life in Moscow. Initially, he thought that “in a month’s time, Anna Sergeyevna would be nothing but a vague memory” (Chekhov, III). However, the passion did not disappear, and some unpredicted consequences prevailed.
Consequences
The main consequence of the love affair with Anna Sergeevna was Gurov’s complete immersion in the passion for memories. He could not continue his previous life of visiting restaurants and clubs. Firstly, it impacted him physically “It struck him as strange that he should have aged so much in the last few years and have lost so much of his looks” (Chekhov, IV). The human “case” of well-being was removed, and a sick and miserable person was under it. Secondly, Gurov experienced great loneliness in his family house because he could not share his desires and experience with anyone. Because of that, the result of alienation was the final break with the family. Having fallen in love with Anna Sergeevna, he lost joy in his previous existence.
Conclusion
To conclude, different readers will perceive Chekhov’s story differently. Some will argue that Gurov’s self-deception that he will manage to live a “double life” was wrong, so he should break up with his wife. Such a view does not consider the context of Russian conservative perceptions of what family, religion, and honor actually meant. In this essay, the position is that it was fully Gurov’s fault because he did not realize how a married man with many children should behave. His inability to see the truth of being a woman’s husband with three children resulted in miserable consequences.
Work Cited
Chekhov, Anton. Lady with Lapdog. Ibiblio.org, 1898. Web.