Analytical Essay

Name of the Student

Name of the Professor

Subject Name

Date

Lady with the dog

Answer 1

Chekhov has chosen to depict these two people meeting because it is an effort to make an imaginary personality. It is also an effort to know how his personality would have reacted to these different and somewhat unfavorable situations. There are certain similarities in Gurov and Chekhov which have compelled the writer to depict Gurov as himself. A thing to note here is that Gurov is associated with art and culture. In the early days of his career, Chekhov worked in two distinct roles. He was a traveling doctor as well as a literature writer. By the year 1899, he had almost given up the profession of medicine and was more focused on literature. The character of Gurov was an attempt to see the higher lifestyle that he had left behind. The other reason that these two persons have only met each other is that there is a clear contrast in their personalities. These differences took them away from each other. The lady has to return to her sick husband and has to leave Gurov. Both persons involved in the affair have different reactions to their newly made relationship. Anna showed her emotions by crying in their first meeting while Gurov seems to have been bored with her. Just like the author has not been able to wipe off his memories regarding the medical profession, Gurov has not been able to forget Anna. The plight of the writer is that he had given up the life as a doctor and now he is a writer whereas the two main characters also have similar problems especially Anna who has her husband at home and yet she promises to come and meet Gurov in Moscow.

Answer 2

The character of Gurov has is frustrated by his domestic life. He is also depicted as being against women. The reconciliation of this character with his new love comes out of two things. One fact is that Gurov is unhappy with his current domestic life and wants to have some change. The second aspect is the depiction of the author that shows Gurov as someone who wants to leave the things that he has at present and try and grab those things which seem to be out of his reach. This situation is very similar to the author who left his service as a doctor to take on literature as his primary career. The lady is also distressed due to the health of her husband and she starts to cry once she meets Gurov. All these aspects would have meant that the relationship between these two people would have been different from what Gurov had experienced so far. The author has also shown some characteristics of Gurov other than being misogynistic. He was an unfaithful man and cheated on his wife many times He did not like to remain at home and considered women as the lower race. Despite being disrespectful, Gurov could not spend much time without women. The author states that

“In the society of men, he felt bored and not himself, with them, he was cold and uncommunicative”

Gurov saw Anna while having dinner in the garden where she came and sat next to his table. Out of his experience, he had some impressions related to her such as her being married and visiting this city for the first time. In their first meeting, Gurov stated clearly that he has been bored in this place. Gurov found her way of communication as if she is still young and single as opposed to being married.

Answer 3

The first reason to meet in Yalta was that they both were present in the same town and were trying to find new companionship, one person out of boredom and another person out of the adverse health situation of her husband. The second reason to meet in the town of Yalta is that Gurov had already heard the stories about the ease with which people can get into a relationship at this place. Although he negated most of the stories and thought that the people who have made such stories would have failed in making any relationship with any person. While he was thinking about the stories and comments by various people, Anna came and sat just beside him. There is a notion presented by the author that Moscow people have not been good at maintaining relationships. All the delicate relationships formed with Moscow people tend to get complicated and within a short period become a serious problem. At first, these relationships seem to go very smooth but eventually develop into a problem that has very serious consequences. The primary reason was that the author is a permanent resident of Yalta and he narrated the whole story from his perspective CITATION WGa69 \l 1033 (Jones).

Answer 4

The story tells us that there are certain fallacies that a person keeps in his mind regarding his self. Gurov is the main character in this story and he is not happy with his wife. He thinks that he has the right to have relationships with other women and his wife has no right to ask about them. He predicts to be a daring man but in reality, he is afraid of his wife. Another contradiction is that Gurov calls women the lower race but he also wants to spend time with them. He cannot spend much of his time without having a relationship with a woman. This shows a lack of self-control and self-knowledge in the character of Gurov. There is another instance of lack of self-knowledge when the author speaks badly about the people of Moscow and states that every delicate relationship started in this city turns into a serious problem over time. Despite this statement, Gurov continued to develop relationships with different people in the same city CITATION Val74 \l 1033 (Bill). Gurov had been told many stories about the town of Yalta but he did not accept them because he wanted to make such a relationship himself. He was able to make such a relationship with Anna very easily. This shows a higher level of self-knowledge as well as self-confidence. Another aspect is that Gurov does not see the women as a lower race in general but does not like his wife. His nature is such that he cannot live with a single woman for long. As far as Anna is concerned, she needs to know herself better as she is split between her husband and Gurov. She has not been loyal to her husband who has been ill. She has little knowledge of what she wishes or needs. This is depicted in the fact that Anna promises to meet Gurov when they meet after some time. She had come to Yalta to figure out what she needs. Even after meeting Gurov, both of them came to know that their relationship will not go along for very long because of their differing characteristics CITATION Ant05 \l 1033 (Chekhov and Garnett).

Works Cited

BIBLIOGRAPHY Bill, Valentine T. "Nature in Chekhov's Fiction." The Russian Review (1974): 153-166.

Chekhov, Anton P. and Constance Garnett. The lady with the dog: and other stories. Fairfield: First world library lterary Society, 2005.

Jones, W. Gareth. "Chekhov's Undercurrent of time." Modern Language Review (1969): 111-121.