Analysis The lady with the petdog - Essay Example

Their love is under the test of rationality and the lens of morality. Chekhov’s “The Lady with the Pet Dog” uses ambiguity, setting, characterization, and realism to suggest that love has no logic, explanation, and morality, but people continue to fight for it because it is the only thing that makes them truly happy. Love has no logic. Chekhov uses ambiguity in language to show that love does not make any sense. Gurov does not find his affairs satisfying in the long run. He just knows that he attracts women enough for them to “favor” him, including sexually favoring him (Chekhov par.5). These sexual favors are short and sweet, until his heart chooses to favor someone forever.

Favor is an ambiguous word, whose final interests are unclear. In the story, favor motivates two married people to prioritize their self-interests, to the risk of breaking the laws of God and man. One more example shows ambiguity. After making love, Anna feels sorry for the affair. Chekhov describes her as a “Magdalene…by an old master” (par.39), perhaps even worse because she is not a prostitute, but she has given her married body to another married person. Her monologue, however, bores Gurov: “…he was irritated by her naive tone, by her repentance, so unexpected and out of place…” (Chekhov par.36). .

Aside from language, characterization enables Chekhov to demonstrate that people may be opposite in many ways, but love can still bind them. Gurov is old and a self-confessed womanizer, while Anna is young and inexperienced with affairs. They seem an unlikely pair, especially when they have some sense of “fear” for their spouses (Chekhov par.4). They fear them because they are with them, despite the absence of love. Furthermore, Gurov thinks that there is nothing special about him, while Anna finds him as the best kind of man.

For Gurov, he is only an old man “almost twice her age,” but Anna sees him as “kind, exceptional, high-minded” (Chekhov par.58). Evidently, love has skewed their assessment of true identities. Their love blinded them of the ability to see each other’s worst faults. One of the greatest sources of the irrationality of their love is its depravity. Their affair is wrong but they want to continue anyway, even when at first, they are unsure of what they have. Anna becomes restless and cannot sleep (Chekhov par.52). These are signs of guilt.

They are both married, but they are in love with each other, not their spouses. In addition, they are hesitant of what they have, until Anna leaves Gurov. When Anna sees “dew on the grass” (Chekhov par.49), it represents something new, the dawn of love. The dew is fresh and refreshing. Their love awakens their old grass. But the dew will evaporate at the light of day. The sun is their morality. Their dew is against this morality, and it is illogical to continue it. They are struggling to hide their love, when they can always end it to conclude their miseries (Chekhov par.52). They feel “dread” (Chekhov par.52) of being caught, being judged.

Why suffer these complications? They