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Literature

06 April 2013

The Lady with the Dog: Analysis

The Lady with the Dog, one of Chekhov's best known and best-loved short stories,

puzzles the reader with its message. The author seems to hide intentionally behind his

protagonist, Dmitri Dmitritch Gurov. For obviously he is the main hero, and The Lady with a

Dog, although appearing first in the title of the story and then preceding Gurov in the opening

sentence, is not. The main theme of the story is love and its inexplicable power over people,

power to change, reform and renew.

As the story develops, we witness wonderingly the stages of the change that takes

place. In this story Chekhov as a master of artistically laconic details is at his best.

 First Gurov is presented as a man used to ladies' society, intelligent and witty and found

attractive by women. As soon as he perceives that the new lady is not accompanied either by

her husband or relations, he intends to strike up a relationship. Interestingly, at this stage the

heroine is just 'a lady with a dog' for him. Not ‘a blond lady’ or even ‘a lady with a beret’: it is

as if we, as well as Gurov, perceive her at such a distance, that we are forced to define her

through her Pomeranian the only clearly visible detail, distinguishing her from others, rather

than through a remarkable feature. She is just a lady, one of numerous holiday-makers, and

one of Gurov's female acquaintances, collectively called 'lower race' by him.

When Gurov gets to know her during a meal at public gardens, she is finally given a

name. The reader learns it together with the hero. The affair develops quite predictably, the

only striking detail being Gurov's thought "There's something pathetic about her, anyway.”

(Tchekhov, 7) That is out of tune with the rest of the few visual characteristics Chekhov gives
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through him: “slender, delicate neck”, “lovely gray eyes” (ibid.). Besides, this characteristics

stands out as a separate paragraph, attracting the reader’s attention.

When the affair he had been planning goes further, again she is depicted through

visual details, evoking sympathy rather than admiration. Equally alien both for Gurov and for

a typical resort affair story is the scene with her repentance and regret: “Her face dropped and

faded, and on both sides of it her long hair hung down mournfully” (ibid. 8). Gurov is taken

aback.  “The attitude of Anna Sergeyevna -- "the lady with the dog" -- to what had happened

was somehow peculiar, very grave, as though it were her fall -- so it seemed, and it was

strange and inappropriate” (ibid.) (and what else was it, according to the moral standards of

the time?) To conceal the awkwardness he feels, to have an excuse to keep silent (because he

does not know what to say) he cuts a slice of a watermelon and eats it.

They start meeting regularly, and when eventually Anna Sergeyevna is summoned

back by her husband, Gurov feels “moved, sad, and conscious of a slight remorse” (ibid. 12).

Nothing as yet foretells the further twist of the plot.

The change in Gurov and his attitude towards Anna Sergeyevna begins while he is

getting absorbed in usual Moscow life. The memory of the woman haunts him. This time -

through sounds. The distance has reduced greatly, and a kind of invisible bond ties them,

which allows him to recognize “her breathing, the caressing rustling of her dress.” (ibid. 13)

He longs to share his memory. He starts speaking about love and women only to be mocked

by his wife. Neither is his colleague interested in his feelings. “You were right this evening:

the sturgeon was a bit too strong!" (ibid. 14). Curiously, this "you were right" shows that the

original remark came from him - and now it angers him and seems insultingly base and

degrading.

He goes to S--, and in Chekhov's description of the town dominates gray - while Yalta

was sparkling with vivid colour. He meets Anna Sergeyevna in the theatre, and “when Gurov

looked at her his heart contracted, and he understood clearly that for him there was in the
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whole world no creature so near, so precious, and so important to him; she, this little woman,

in no way remarkable, lost in a provincial crowd, with a vulgar lorgnette in her hand, filled

his whole life now, was his sorrow and his joy, the one happiness that he now desired for

himself” (ibid. 16). Curiously, he does not idealize her - but that does not change anything. A

real love of his life has come to him, and during the first moments of reunion it is he who is

childish and shy.

She comes to Moscow, and the scene at the hotel with Gurov ordering tea seems the

reflexion of the watermelon scene in Yalta. Then eating watermelon was a way to escape

embarrassment, as he did not understand his lover's feelings and attitude. Now he does,

without words, profoundly, sympathetically, and wishes to give her time to calm down. 

The love changes his attitude to life and other people. How different is now his

perception of women! There is now sympathy, possibly repentance, awareness of his own

imperfection. How different his perception of other men! He refuses to take them at face

value. “And he judged of others by himself, not believing in what he saw, and always

believing that every man had his real, most interesting life under the cover of secrecy” (ibid.

19). He becomes more tolerant, more compassionate, less smug. 

The finale of the story is open. “And it seemed as though in a little while the solution

would be found, and then a new and splendid life would begin; and it was clear to both of

them that they had still a long, long road before them, and that the most complicated and

difficult part of it was only just beginning” (ibid. 20-21). This "as though" is emphatically

ambiguous; the readers' expectations as to how the situation will be resolved are deceived.

There is no judgement. Neither the author, nor the reader condemn the unhappy couple as

immoral, nor do they justify them. Chekhov deliberately violates the rules of story-telling. His

novella is rather a piece of life, leaving the heroes free to choose their own course.
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Tchekhov, Anton Pavlovitch. “The Lady with the Dog”. The Lady with the Dog and

Other Stories. Web. 06 April 2013. < http://chekhov2.tripod.com/197.htm>