Anton
Chekhov has been considered an artist with a unique gift for creating mood in
his collection of stories. Many people see “The Lady with the Dog” as a
romantic story of a couple of married people who both go on vacation and end up
falling in love after an affair. Most readers see the reformation of the main
character, Gurov. Many casual readers miss are the parallels between the life
of Gurov and the life of Chekhov, the author.
R.F.
Christian believes that the entire story mirrors Chekhov’s life. He says “The
first two chapters of the book deal specifically with Chekhov’s alleged
misogyny and his attitude to sex” (Christian 953). Christian goes on to talk
about Chekhov’s ideas of women calling them “a threat to a man’s happiness
because of her sexual power” (Christian 953). This mirrors the disrespect
that Gurov shows to women in “The Lady with the Dog.” For example, Gurov
compares the lace of women’s underwear to scales, something foul and reptilian.
He also refers to women as pathetic and generally speaks down to them
throughout the first few acts.
The
disrespect Gurov has toward women leads him to have an affair on his wife in
the story, just as Chekhov had in real life with his mistress Olga Knipper
(Creasman 257). In “The Lady with the Dog,” Gurov begins to fall in love with
Anna and consequently begins to see her as more of a person. Chekhov also goes
to great lengths to describe his character’s misogyny early in the story, but
then also pours detail into the reformation of Gurov at the end. Perhaps
Chekhov wants the reader to believe in the power of people to change, and be
less critical of his self-inspired character. The transformation is apparent
when Gurov kisses Anna in front of the teenagers who are smoking nearby;
earlier in the story Gurov would have only kissed her when he was certain no
one was looking. Later, Anna begins to visit him in Moscow, a big city lifestyle,
which one could expect to live with a famous author.
As
R. F. Christian points out, even the ending is fitting to the life of Chekhov.
The story ends abruptly, with Anna and Gurov struggling to come up with a remedy
for their situation. Chekhov died young, only being married a short period
before he passed (Christian 953). His life also lacked the resolution that his
story lacked. An ending without a solid conclusion warrants the question, what
happens next? Creasman clarifies, “it is never clear in the story whether Gurov
truly loves Anna or whether it is only the romantic fantasy”(Creasman 259).
Was
Gurov really experiencing love or was it just a progression of the games that
he plays with women?
Chekhov,
Anton. "The Lady with the Little Dog." The Story and Its Writer An Introduction
to Short Fiction. Comp. Ann
Charters. 8th ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2011. 266-77. Print.
Christian, R. F., and Virginia L. Smith.
"Anton Chekhov and the Lady with the Dog."Oxford University Press (1973): 952-53. Print.
Creasman, Boyd. "Gurov's Flights of Emotion
in Chekhov's "The Lady with the Dog"" Studies in Short Fiction:
257-60. Academic Search
Complete. Web. 28 Feb. 2012
I think Gurov's experience with Anna was more of a progression of the games he plays with women, however, he becomes caught up in it and ends up changing his opinion of them as well. Although he refers to women as an "inferior race," by the end of the story we see him somewhat going out of his way to satisfy Anna, therefore making her his equal. It's interesting that this character reflects the life of its author. The ambiguity of the ending of the story could also parallel Chekhov's short-lived life and early death.
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