The Lady with the Pet Dog - Essay Example

The meetings between Anna and Gurov had initially started without any inkling of love, but their feelings were soon transformed into infatuation and finally into passionate love which brought the two different personalities together. They way Chekov has developed the character of Dmitri is indeed commendable. At the start of the novel he is portrayed as a typical detestable male chauvinist but by the end of the story, he is greatly changed by love and the readers start to feel for him. It is the power of love which forces Gurov to be dissatisfied by his life and routine.

The love compels a married woman to have an affair out of her marriage. However accompanying love is the guilt that is pinching the conscience of both the characters. Despite being in love with Gurov, Anna feels happy and relieved to return back to his husband. The separation however does not last for long. Driven madly by the desire to meet Anna, Gurov leaves his city to find her so that he could confess his love for her. Even though Anna knows she is married, she yearns to break away from his husband and return to the love of her life.

Love strengthens her conviction to meet Gurov and at the end of the story she sets out a plan to go away from her husband to meet him. To make the theme so vivid and so interesting, setting of the story plays an important role. The most essential element of the story is its dual setting. The dual setting plays an important role in shaping up the story. Yalta has been depicted as a state which is famous for its ‘stories of immorality’. Gurov is tempted by the beauty of the city to find a partner to spend time with.

Then the city itself creates an atmosphere of romance by its ‘heat’, ‘the chirrup of the grasshoppers’ and the ‘smell of the sea’. The atmosphere has a direct effect on Gurov and Anna by setting a romantic mood for them. The setting is comparable to the moods of the lovers. Both the characters are surrounded by the beauty and serenity of the city which brings them very close to each other. After Anna departs, it starts to get ‘cold’ symbolizing the onset of autumn in the city as well as in the life of Gurov.

Then we see the city of Moscow, where Gurov returned. Moscow has been shown as a busy city with everything in perfect routine. The mornings are ‘dark’ which compliments Gurov’s mood. He feels gloomy and disgruntled by his life and yearns to meet Anna again. Chekhov has indeed remarkably created the setting of the story to match the mood of its characters. The Author Antonio Chekhov has written a number of short stories, all of which have been very popular among the readers. I find this story very interesting and appealing.

They way Chekhov has narrated the story and the shown the connection between the two major characters is truly remarkable. The story proceeds smoothly without any glitches with the same theme of love circulating around the characters which maintains the readers’ attention. The literary devices and symbolism used in the story further increases the curiosity of the readers. This could very well be seen by the ‘silence’ of Anna which she maintains after most of the questions asked by Gurov.

Moreover the author has connected the element of uncertainty and reluctance with every major character. Gurov is uncertain about continuing his relationship with Anna, Anna’