In Anton Chekhov’s 1899 short story “The lady with the pet dog”, married man Dmitriy Dmitrievich Gurov and married woman Anna Sergeevna meet in Yalta, getaway town by the Black sea. Chekhov greatly portrays true beauty and sadness of life through their romance. Gurov was able to connect with himself and transform from loveless, cynic misogynist into a caring lover and hopeless romantic with the help of a powerful feeling of love. Chekhov describes the reality as it is and reveals the deep meaning of life in the story.
Gurov appear as bored, unhappily married by arrangement, unfaithful to his wife banker, who holds degree in arts and had been trained as an opera singer. He believe it would be nice to have a meaningless, vacation fling with the young, mysterious lady with the dog. Gurov is an egotistical man, caring little for the feeling of women, describing them as “inferior race”(223) at the same time with “women he felt free, and knew… how to behave…”(223).
He is successful at work and seems to enjoy high society lifestyle in Moscow, however he gave up his passion for art and opera. Thought of concurring a naïve, almost twice younger than him Anna Sergeevna excited him:” but when the lady sat down at the next table three paces from him, he remembered these tales of easy conquests, of trips to the mountains, and the tempting thought of a swift, fleeting love affair, a romance with an unknown woman, whose name he did not know, suddenly took possession of him”(225). It did not take him long to make a bond with her.
After spending sometime together he feels annoyed by her, as she in tears explains him how sad and ashamed she find herself; Anna is fearing Dmitriy Dimitrievich will not respect her for being unfaithful for her husband. Gurov have no intention to have a long lasting affair with Anna Sergeevna.
At the same time he enjoy their time together and finds himself in peace around her: “Sitting beside a young woman who in the dawn seemed so lovely, soothed and spellbound in these magical surroundings-the sea, mountains, clouds, the open sky-Gurov thought how in reality everything is beautiful in this world when one reflects: everything except what we think or do ourselves when we forget our human dignity and the higher aims of our existence”(226). This was the moment of his great reflection of the meaning of life, from that point Gurov stepped on the path to find his true self.
Since he gets back to Moscow step by step he realizes how miserable surroundings are around him. He feels unsatisfied, even “fed up”(227) with the job he never truly enjoys and the children he has with the wife he never been in love with. Snowy, grey Moscow takes over him with boring, unpleasant daily routine. Gurov surprisingly find himself frequently remembering sunny Yalta, fresh breeze of the Black sea and youthful Anna…He wants to open up and share his warm memories with acquaintances but every time he tries he faces the reality of their limited ability to understand him.
Their minds occupied mostly with own problems, which have nothing in common with what Dmitriy is going through. He feels completely trapped in the world of high society in Moscow: “Futile pursuits and conversations always about the same topics take up the better part of one’s time, the better part of one’s strength, and in the end there is left a life clipped and wingless, an absurd mess, and there is no escaping or getting away from it just as though one were in a madhouse or a prison” (227).
Unfortunately going through the internal crisis of existence he could not find any support from the people around. He becomes “indignant” and loses his sleep, meanwhile developing stronger feeling for Anna; The only person who would listen carefully to him, comfort him and try to understand. Anna Sergeevna with whom he shared beautiful time in Yalta and felt comfortable in silence.
Finally finding himself for who he really is moving him from treating Anna just like another girl he had affair with to realizing that he developed the great, powerful feeling of love. He is able to connect to himself and higher aims of existence trough his feelings for Anna. His points of view and values in life are completely changed. Gurov sees his reflection in the mirror and notices his head covered with grey hair. The mirror become a symbol of self-understanding, the vision of himself triggers an important feeling that goes beyond his physical appearance, gray hair represents the wisdom he gained through his experiences in life; The most important and recent one – experience of true love. Dmitriy Dmitrievich Gurov completely transformed his perspective on life forever.
